Analgesic Potential of Light Therapy in Knee Osteoarthritis

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. The investigators aim to assess the analgesic potential of green light therapy for people living with knee osteoarthritis. Participants will be asked to keep a pain diary for 4 weeks prior to light intervention. All participants will first use a white LED (20 lux) for 1-2 hours per day in a dark room at home for 10 weeks. Following a 2-week washout period without light use, participants will use a green LED (20 lux) for 1-2 hours per day in a dark room at home for 10 weeks. Following completion of the intervention, the investigator will assess changes in reported pain and quality of life. The investigators hypothesize that participants will have improvements in pain intensity and quality of life following treatment with green LEDs.