Chronic Low Back PainNCT02373189
Bright Light Treatment At Home To Manage Chronic Pain In U.S. Veterans
A study testing Bright light in people with Chronic Low Back Pain, run by Rush University Medical Center at 1 site in United States.
Trial summary
Nearly 50% of U.S. veterans report they experience pain on a regular basis. This chronic pain often co-occurs with other disorders including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, anxiety and insomnia. Read more about this study
- Who is it for?
- Ages 18 to 70 years
- Conditions the study is for
- Chronic Low Back Pain
- What is being tested?
- Bright light
- Type of treatment
- Medical device
- Could I receive a placebo?
- No, everyone receives an active treatment
- How many people
- 37 participants
- Where
- 1 siteUnited States
- Study dates
- Aug 2014to Feb 2018
- Phase
- Interventional
- Are there results?
- Yes, posted in the registrySummary in the doctors' view
Key requirements
Who can take part, as listed by the sponsor. Only the study team can confirm whether you are eligible, so take this list to your doctor.
- Ages 18 to 70 years
- All sexes
- No healthy volunteers
- Adult, Older adult
Who may be able to join
- U.S. veteran
- musculoskeletal pain of the lower back and/or leg pain stemming from degenerative disk disease, spinal stenosis, or disk herniation (radiculopathy subcategory), or muscular or ligamentous strain (chronic myofascial pain subcategory) verified with written confirmation from physician/medical record
- age between 18 and 70 years
- live within 1.5 hours drive of Rush University Medical Center
Who cannot join
- inability to understand English well enough to complete questionnaires or to participate;
- unable to travel to the lab
Trial locations and contacts
1 site in 1 country.
United States1 site
Rush University Medical Center
Chicago, Illinois, 60612
About this study
Nearly 50% of U.S. veterans report they experience pain on a regular basis. This chronic pain often co-occurs with other disorders including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, anxiety and insomnia. A common approach to treating chronic pain is opioid analgesics, which are not always effective, and increasingly associated with abuse and misuse. Thus, there is an urgent need to develop readily available, safe, and practical complementary nonpharmacological approaches to manage chronic pain in U.S. veterans. Chronic pain is a multidimensional phenomenon, inter-related with many factors, including negative mood and poor sleep. The central circadian clock, in the suprachiasmatic nucleus in the hypothalamus, is well recognized to regulate both mood and sleep, and even small delays (shifts later) in circadian/sleep timing are associated with depression and disrupted sleep. These results suggests that later circadian/sleep timing may be a modifiable risk factor for pain. Thus, a self-administered morning bright light treatment at home may be a potentially efficacious adjunctive strategy for managing chronic pain. This R34 grant will develop a morning bright light treatment to help manage chronic pain and improve PTSD symptoms, depression, anxiety and sleep in U.S. veterans. Patients will have 7 baseline days at home, followed by a baseline pain sensitivity assessment and home circadian phase assessment (dim light melatonin onset). Following an instructional home visit, patients will then self-administer morning bright light treatment for 6 days, followed by reassessments of pain sensitivity and circadian phase. Assessments will be repeated after another 7 days of morning bright light treatment. Pain, mood and sleep (wrist actigraphy) will be assessed daily throughout baseline and treatment. Pain, mood and sleep will also be rated by veterans daily during a 1 month follow up after cessation of light treatment. This study will determine the feasibility, acceptability and efficacy of bright light treatment in a sample of U.S. veterans experiencing chronic low back pain.
Read the detailed description
Almost 50% of U.S. veterans report they experience pain on a regular basis. This chronic pain often co-occurs with other disorders including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, anxiety and insomnia. A common approach to treating chronic pain is opioid analgesics, which are not always effective, and increasingly associated with abuse and misuse. Thus, there is an urgent need to develop readily available, safe, and practical complementary nonpharmacological approaches to manage chronic pain in U.S. veterans. Chronic pain is a multidimensional phenomenon, inter-related with many factors, including negative mood and poor sleep. The central circadian clock, in the suprachiasmatic nucleus in the hypothalamus, is well recognized to regulate both mood and sleep, and even small delays (shifts later) in circadian/sleep timing are associated with depression and disrupted sleep. These results suggests that later circadian/sleep timing may be a modifiable risk factor for pain. Thus, a self-administered morning bright light treatment at home may be a potentially efficacious adjunctive strategy for managing chronic pain. This R34 grant will develop a morning bright light treatment to help manage chronic pain and improve PTSD symptoms, depression, anxiety and sleep in U.S. veterans. Patients will have 7 baseline days at home, followed by a baseline pain sensitivity assessment and home circadian phase assessment (dim light melatonin onset). Following an instructional home visit, patients will then self-administer morning bright light treatment for 6 days, followed by reassessments of pain sensitivity and circadian phase. Assessments will be repeated after another 7 days of morning bright light treatment. Pain, mood and sleep (wrist actigraphy) will be assessed daily throughout baseline and treatment. Pain, mood and sleep will also be rated by veterans daily during a 1 month follow up after cessation of light treatment. This study will determine the feasibility, acceptability and efficacy of bright light treatment in a sample of U.S. veterans experiencing chronic low back pain.
- Conditions
- Chronic Low Back Pain
- Being tested
- Bright light
What participants receive
What participants receive. In a randomised study each person is assigned to one group by chance.
Bright lightDevice
The purpose of this R34 Pilot and Feasibility study is to develop a morning bright light treatment to help manage chronic pain and improve PTSD symptoms, mood, and sleep in US veterans. Veterans will have 7 baseline days at home, followed by a baseline pain sensitivity assessment and baseline home circadian phase assessment (dim light melatonin onset). Following an instructional home visit, patients will then self-administer morning bright light treatment for 6 days, followed by reassessments of pain sensitivity and home circadian phase. This will be repeated after a further 7 days of morning bright light treatment. The Patient Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) will also be administered at every lab visit. Additionally, pain and mood (electronic diaries) and sleep (wrist actigraphy) will be assessed daily throughout baseline and treatment. Pain, mood and sleep will also be self-reported daily during a 1 month follow up after cessation of light treatment.
| Study group | Role | What they receive |
|---|---|---|
| Bright light | Experimental | Participants received morning bright light. Receives: Device: Bright light |
What is being measured
The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.
Patient Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System Pain Intensity
How intense is the pain? 0-100 Likert Scale. 0 = no pain; 100 = worst pain
Measured: 1 day
Secondary outcomes (1)
Pain Tolerance
Laboratory testing. Subject placed hand in ice water until discomfort became intolerable. Elapsed time between immersion and removal of hand in seconds was defined as "tolerance."
Measured: 0 - 5 minutes
Timeline
From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.
- First posted26 Feb 2015 (estimated)
- Study startAug 2014
- Primary completionSep 2017
- Study completionFeb 2018
Resources
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govThe registry entry this page is built from, with its full change history.
- Posted resultsParticipant flow, outcome measures and adverse events reported by the sponsor.
- Other trials for Chronic Low Back PainStudies of the same condition, open and under way.
- More trials run by Rush University Medical CenterThe sponsor's other registered studies.
- What the trial phases meanHow a treatment moves from first tests in people to approval.
More details
For doctors and researchers: how the study is designed, who runs it, and its registry IDs.
Study design
- Study type
- Interventional
- Phase
- Phase N/A
- Primary purpose
- Basic science
- Allocation
- Not applicable
- Intervention model
- Single group
- Masking
- None (open label)
- Enrolment
- 37 participants (actual)
Sponsor and investigators
- Lead sponsor
- Rush University Medical Center
- Sponsor type
- University, hospital or other
- Collaborators
- National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH)
- Responsible party
- Sponsor
- Investigators
- Helen J Burgess, PhD, Principal investigator, Rush University Medical Center
IDs, dates and publications
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT02373189
- Sponsor's protocol ID
- 13082603
- Other IDs
- R34AT008347
- Status last verified
- Dec 2023
- First submitted
- 16 Feb 2015
- Last updated
- 19 Dec 2023
- Results posted
- Yes, on ClinicalTrials.gov
- Data monitoring committee
- No
Study at a glance
From the registry record, last updated by the sponsor on 19 Dec 2023. Recruitment status is as the sponsor reported it: confirm with the study team.
- Official title
- Bright Light Treatment At Home To Manage Chronic Pain In U.S. Veterans
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT02373189
- Acronym / sponsor ID
- 13082603
- Conditions
- Chronic Low Back Pain
- Study type
- Interventional
- Recruitment status
- Completed
- Enrolment
- 37 participants (actual)
- Lead sponsor
- Rush University Medical CenterUniversity, hospital or other
- Collaborators
- National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH)
- Study start
- Aug 2014 (actual)
- Primary completion
- Sep 2017 (actual)
- Study completion
- Feb 2018 (actual)
- First posted
- 26 Feb 2015 (estimated)
- Results
- Posted 19 Dec 2023
Clinical summary
The research question as the sponsor registered it. This describes what the study plans to test, not what it found.
Nearly 50% of U.S. veterans report they experience pain on a regular basis. This chronic pain often co-occurs with other disorders including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, anxiety and insomnia. A common approach to treating chronic pain is opioid analgesics, which are not always effective, and increasingly associated with abuse and misuse. Thus, there is an urgent need to develop readily available, safe, and practical complementary nonpharmacological approaches to manage chronic pain in U.S. veterans. Chronic pain is a multidimensional phenomenon, inter-related with many factors, including negative mood and poor sleep. The central circadian clock, in the suprachiasmatic nucleus in the hypothalamus, is well recognized to regulate both mood and sleep, and even small delays (shifts later) in circadian/sleep timing are associated with depression and disrupted sleep. These results suggests that later circadian/sleep timing may be a modifiable risk factor for pain. Thus, a self-administered morning bright light treatment at home may be a potentially efficacious adjunctive strategy for managing chronic pain. This R34 grant will develop a morning bright light treatment to help manage chronic pain and improve PTSD symptoms, depression, anxiety and sleep in U.S. veterans. Patients will have 7 baseline days at home, followed by a baseline pain sensitivity assessment and home circadian phase assessment (dim light melatonin onset). Following an instructional home visit, patients will then self-administer morning bright light treatment for 6 days, followed by reassessments of pain sensitivity and circadian phase. Assessments will be repeated after another 7 days of morning bright light treatment. Pain, mood and sleep (wrist actigraphy) will be assessed daily throughout baseline and treatment. Pain, mood and sleep will also be rated by veterans daily during a 1 month follow up after cessation of light treatment. This study will determine the feasibility, acceptability and efficacy of bright light treatment in a sample of U.S. veterans experiencing chronic low back pain.
Detailed description
Almost 50% of U.S. veterans report they experience pain on a regular basis. This chronic pain often co-occurs with other disorders including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, anxiety and insomnia. A common approach to treating chronic pain is opioid analgesics, which are not always effective, and increasingly associated with abuse and misuse. Thus, there is an urgent need to develop readily available, safe, and practical complementary nonpharmacological approaches to manage chronic pain in U.S. veterans. Chronic pain is a multidimensional phenomenon, inter-related with many factors, including negative mood and poor sleep. The central circadian clock, in the suprachiasmatic nucleus in the hypothalamus, is well recognized to regulate both mood and sleep, and even small delays (shifts later) in circadian/sleep timing are associated with depression and disrupted sleep. These results suggests that later circadian/sleep timing may be a modifiable risk factor for pain. Thus, a self-administered morning bright light treatment at home may be a potentially efficacious adjunctive strategy for managing chronic pain. This R34 grant will develop a morning bright light treatment to help manage chronic pain and improve PTSD symptoms, depression, anxiety and sleep in U.S. veterans. Patients will have 7 baseline days at home, followed by a baseline pain sensitivity assessment and home circadian phase assessment (dim light melatonin onset). Following an instructional home visit, patients will then self-administer morning bright light treatment for 6 days, followed by reassessments of pain sensitivity and circadian phase. Assessments will be repeated after another 7 days of morning bright light treatment. Pain, mood and sleep (wrist actigraphy) will be assessed daily throughout baseline and treatment. Pain, mood and sleep will also be rated by veterans daily during a 1 month follow up after cessation of light treatment. This study will determine the feasibility, acceptability and efficacy of bright light treatment in a sample of U.S. veterans experiencing chronic low back pain.
Study design
- Primary purpose
- Basic science
- Allocation
- Not applicable
- Intervention model
- Single group
- Masking
- None (open label)
- Number of arms
- 1
| Arm | Type | Receives |
|---|---|---|
| Bright light | Experimental | Device: Bright lightParticipants received morning bright light. |
Who may qualify
- Ages
- 18 to 70 years
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Not accepted
- Age groups
- Adult, Older adult
Key inclusion criteria (4 listed)
- U.S. veteran
- musculoskeletal pain of the lower back and/or leg pain stemming from degenerative disk disease, spinal stenosis, or disk herniation (radiculopathy subcategory), or muscular or ligamentous strain (chronic myofascial pain subcategory) verified with written confirmation from physician/medical record
- age between 18 and 70 years
- live within 1.5 hours drive of Rush University Medical Center
Key exclusion criteria (2 listed)
- inability to understand English well enough to complete questionnaires or to participate;
- unable to travel to the lab
Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening; this overview does not establish that a patient qualifies. Full inclusion and exclusion criteria.
Interventions
| Intervention | Type | Arms |
|---|---|---|
| Bright lightThe purpose of this R34 Pilot and Feasibility study is to develop a morning bright light treatment to help manage chronic pain and improve PTSD symptoms, mood, and sleep in US veterans. Veterans will have 7 baseline days at home, followed by a baseline pain sensitivity assessment and baseline home circadian phase assessment (dim light melatonin onset). Following an instructional home visit, patients will then self-administer morning bright light treatment for 6 days, followed by reassessments of pain sensitivity and home circadian phase. This will be repeated after a further 7 days of morning bright light treatment. The Patient Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) will also be administered at every lab visit. Additionally, pain and mood (electronic diaries) and sleep (wrist actigraphy) will be assessed daily throughout baseline and treatment. Pain, mood and sleep will also be self-reported daily during a 1 month follow up after cessation of light treatment. | Device | Bright light |
Primary outcome
Patient Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System Pain Intensity
Time frame: 1 day
How intense is the pain? 0-100 Likert Scale. 0 = no pain; 100 = worst pain
1 secondary outcome
Pain Tolerance
Time frame: 0 - 5 minutes
Results and safety
Loading the posted results from ClinicalTrials.gov…
Research links
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govLast updated by the sponsor 19 Dec 2023.
- Posted resultsParticipant flow, baseline, all outcome measures and adverse events.
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Referral and contact
AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals. Contact the study team or a site listed below; they decide who can take part. This study is not recruiting at the moment.
Helen J Burgess, PhD principal investigator
Rush University Medical Center
1 site in 1 country: see every site and its status.
Questions about this trial
What is this clinical trial studying?
A study testing Bright light in people with Chronic Low Back Pain, run by Rush University Medical Center at 1 site in United States.
The full registered description is in the About this study section and the official record.
Who may be eligible to take part?
The sponsor lists 4 inclusion and 2 exclusion criteria. Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening, so read the full criteria and contact a listed site.
Is this clinical trial currently recruiting?
The record says: finished, as of the sponsor's last update on 19 Dec 2023. Status can change between updates, so confirm with the study contact before making plans.
Where is the study taking place?
The record lists 1 site in United States. Whether a site is taking part right now should be confirmed with that site. See every site.
What are the possible benefits and risks?
They depend on the study and the treatment, and no study can promise a benefit. The study team explains the known risks during informed consent, before anyone joins; the record itself does not list them.
Are results available for this study?
Yes. Results are posted in the registry (first posted 19 Dec 2023). A summary is in the For doctors view, and the full results are on ClinicalTrials.gov.
How can a doctor refer a patient or contact the research team?
The record lists no contact. The official record names the sponsor, who can be asked directly. AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals.
What does the primary outcome measure?
Patient Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System Pain Intensity (time frame: 1 day). It is what the study was designed to measure, not a finding.
Where can I read the original study information?
Does a listing mean the treatment is approved or proven to work?
No. A listing means the study is registered. It does not show that the treatment is safe, works, or is approved by a regulator.
How often is this information updated?
AzTrials copies changed records from ClinicalTrials.gov every night and reloads the whole registry every week. The sponsor last updated this record on 19 Dec 2023.