The Effect of Light Therapy on Chronic Pain
Active, not recruitingNot applicableNCT03677206
View the official record on ClinicalTrials.gov Recruiting status changes often. Contact the study team listed on ClinicalTrials.gov, and talk to your doctor before joining a study.
This study has no listed site in Canada in this snapshot. It is included as part of the worldwide chronic pain corpus.
Brief summary (from the registry)
Chronic pain is a major problem in the USA and the rest of the world, currently, all available pharmacological interventions carry with them significant side effects. Pain clinics are specially equipped to perform intentional pain procedures to manage pain. However, there remain groups of patients what neither benefit from pharmacological nor from interventional pain procedures. Other methods have shown only minor benefits such as hypnosis or cognitive behavioral therapy. Therefore, other techniques need to be investigated. Light therapy has been shown to have significant biological effects on humans. For example, light therapy is used to manage depression. Several clinical trials have shown that certain wavelengths of light can improve wound healing, decrease temporomandibular joint dysfunction (TMJ) pain, and decrease fear of back pain. In these trials, light was directed at the site of pain. In an attempt to better understand the effect of different wavelengths of light, pre-clinical studies were conducted using rats. The investigators have shown green and blue Light emitting diode, (LED) light produced antinociception (analgesia) and reversed neuropathic pain associated with several models of chronic pain. The analgesic effect of light was completely blocked when rats had their eyes covered, this suggests that the analgesic effects seen are mainly due to systemic effect through the visual system. Preliminary experiments on rats suggest that this effect is mediated through the endogenous opioids and cannabinoid system. The investigators believe that LED light is a safe alternative to pharmacological intervention to manage pain by stimulating the endogenous endorphin and cannabinoid systems. The investigators initial target participants with history of HIV, chemotherapy induced peripheral neuropathy and fibromyalgia. Participants will be divided into 2 groups. The first group will be a control group exposed to white LED light. The second group will be exposed to g…
Study details
- Official title
- The Effect of Light Therapy on Chronic Pain
- Conditions
- Interventions
- Device: Exposure to green LED light
- Device: Exposure to white LED light
- Sponsor
- University of Arizona
- Start date
- 2016-06
- Primary completion
- 2023-06
- Sex
- All
- Age range
- from 18 Years to 80 Years
- Results posted
- Yes, on ClinicalTrials.gov
- Countries
- United States
- Total sites listed
- 1
Eligibility criteria
Show eligibility criteria (verbatim from the registry)
Inclusion Criteria: * Adults ages 18 - 80 able to understand English and comply with study protocol * Peripheral neuropathy from HIV or chemotherapy. * History of fibromyalgia * Headaches * Chronic Pain * 7-day average numeric pain score of 5/10 or greater at baseline evaluation Exclusion Criteria: * Subjects receiving remuneration for their pain treatment * Subjects that are incarcerated * Subjects unable to read English and complete assessments * Addictive behavior, severe clinical depression, or psychotic features
Source: ClinicalTrials.gov (US National Library of Medicine), snapshot October 2026. Check the registry for current recruiting status. Record: https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT03677206