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Chronic Pain
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Chronic pain is a common long-term condition that can affect any area throughout the body. Individuals suffering with chronic pain often have associated fatigue, sleep and mood disturbances.
Current treatments for chronic pain include a variety of both medicine-based approaches and non-medical approaches such as exercise and psychology treatments. Patients often take a combination of medications such as antidepressants and strong medications like morphine - which are not always effective, and often associated with several troublesome side effects. Despite physical activity being a common and helpful treatment, evidence shows that patients with chronic pain can find it difficult to engage for a variety of reasons. It would be helpful to see if other non-medication based approaches will be an acceptable treatment to those suffering with chronic pain.
Photobiomodulation (PBM) therapy describes a safe, non-invasive low-energy light therapy that has been successful in treating a variety of chronic pain conditions. Cells absorb light to produce a series of reactions that culminate in pain relief, reduced inflammation, and tissue repair. Most studies examining effects of PBM have consisted of a small hand-held probe focused on specific painful areas. There are a cohort of chronic pain conditions that encompass widespread throughout the back, neck and joints, such as fibromyalgia (FM). Whole-body PBM therapy is able to treat a large area of the body in a short space of time.
The main purpose of the study is to determine feasibility, with a view to guiding a definitive Randomised Controlled Trial (RCT), in terms of: feasibility of eligibility criteria, recruitment rates, acceptability of trial device in the chronic pain population, and acceptability of outcome measures.
Start dates may differ between countries and research sites. The research team are responsible for keeping the information up-to-date.
The recruitment start and end dates are as follows:
"Fitzmaurice B, Heneghan NR, Rayen A, Soundy A. Whole-body photobiomodulation therapy for chronic pain: a protocol for a feasibility trial. BMJ Open. 2022 Jun 29;12(6):e060058. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2021-060058."; "35768101"
You can take part if:
You may not be able to take part if:
This is in the inclusion criteria above
Below are the locations for where you can take part in the trial. Please note that not all sites may be open.
The study is sponsored by Sandwell & West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust
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