Light Therapy and MRI Imaging for Knee Osteoarthritis Pain - Trial NCT06395584

Timeline & Enrollment

Primary Outcome

Pain Score Diary

Summary

Managing joint pain is one of the main goals for treating osteoarthritis (OA) and other
 musculoskeletal disorders. Alleviating chronic pain pharmacologically has several potential
 drawbacks including diminishing efficacy, toxicity, adverse side-effects, and patient
 anxiety. Non-pharmacological approaches (eg. weight loss) have also been found to be
 effective at controlling joint pain and can provide supplementary benefits. The development
 of efficacious, alternative treatments for arthritis pain which provide analgesia without
 adverse side-effects would be advantageous.
 
 Recently, preclinical and clinical studies have demonstrated that green ambient light using
 light-emitting diodes (LEDs) produced profound analgesia in animal models and chronic pain
 patients. Both migraineurs and fibromyalgia patients have both reported significant
 reductions in pain following 10 weeks of green LED exposure.
 
 It is unknown how green light reduces pain, but it is believed to be in the connections
 between the visual and pain control centres in the brain. Investigators will examine whether
 green light reduces OA knee pain by altering pain processes in the brain. To assess this, we
 will recruit 44 participants and randomly assign them to one of two groups: one group will
 receive light treatments every day for 20 weeks and the other group will not. We will ask
 both groups to report pain in daily pain diaries and ask both groups to have a series of 3
 MRI brain scans to determine if light exposure changes how the brain processes pain.

ICD-10 Classifications