Trial reportPain medicine (Malden, Mass.)2019
An Open Trial of Morning Bright Light Treatment Among US Military Veterans with Chronic Low Back Pain: A Pilot Study.
Trial report in Pain medicine (Malden, Mass.), 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 25 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
25 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 37 citations in OpenAlex.
- Shedding light on pain management: a translational systematic review of light therapy for the treatment of chronic pain.EBioMedicine · 2026Pooled it
- Examining photoperiod, chronotype, and adherence as predictors of morning light treatment effects on depression symptoms: A study of five clinical trials.Journal of affective disorders · 2026Pooled it
- Management of chronic musculoskeletal pain in veterans: a systematic review.Acta bio-medica : Atenei Parmensis · 2021Pooled it
- Reducing Test Anxiety: A Randomized Controlled Pilot Study of Evening Bright Light Exposure in University Students.Depression and anxiety · 2025Trial
- A 4-week morning light treatment reduces amygdala reactivity and clinical symptoms in adults with traumatic stress.Psychiatry research · 2024Trial
- Bright light therapy for CPAP-resistant OSA symptoms.Journal of clinical sleep medicine : JCSM : official publication of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine · 2024Trial
- Morning Bright Light Treatment for Chronic Low Back Pain: Potential Impact on the Volatility of Pain, Mood, Function, and Sleep.Pain medicine (Malden, Mass.) · 2020Trial
- Developing multicomponent chronotherapeutic interventions for emerging adults with delayed sleep timing.Journal of clinical sleep medicine : JCSM : official publication of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine · 2026Article
- Spectral Composition of Ambient White Light Modulates Photophobia and Headache Intensity During Migraine Attacks.Neurology and therapy · 2026Article
- 40 Hz light flickering alleviates chronic pain via adenosine signaling in the retina-amygdala pathway.Cell research · 2026Article
- Association of nighttime sleep duration and quality with low back pain in middle-aged and elderly Chinese: a nationwide longitudinal cohort study.BMC public health · 2026Article
- Transcranial photobiomodulation with near-infrared laser induces analgesia in rats.The Journal of physiology · 2026Article
- Mechanisms and clinical application of photobiomodulation in pain therapy: a mini review.Frontiers in pain research (Lausanne, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Article
- What Links Sleep and Neuropathic Pain?: A Literature Review on the Neural Circuits for Sleep and Pain Control.Nature and science of sleep · 2025Review
- Light Therapy in Chronic Migraine.Current pain and headache reports · 2024Review
- Morning light treatment for inflammatory bowel disease: a clinical trial.BMC gastroenterology · 2024Article
- A Comprehensive Overview of the Neural Mechanisms of Light Therapy.Neuroscience bulletin · 2024Review
- Looking for a Beam of Light to Heal Chronic Pain.Journal of pain research · 2024Review
- Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveTo examine the feasibility, acceptability, and effects of a home-based morning bright light treatment on pain, mood, sleep, and circadian timing in US veterans with chronic low back pain.
designAn open treatment trial with a seven-day baseline, followed by 13 days of a one-hour morning bright light treatment self-administered at home. Pain, pain sensitivity, mood, sleep, and circadian timing were assessed before, during, and after treatment.
settingParticipants slept at home, with weekly study visits and home saliva collections.
participantsThirty-seven US veterans with medically verified chronic low back pain.
methodsPain, mood, and sleep quality were assessed with questionnaires. Pain sensitivity was assessed using two laboratory tasks: a heat stimulus and an ischemia stimulus that gave measures of threshold and tolerance. Sleep was objectively assessed with wrist actigraphy. Circadian timing was assessed with the dim light melatonin onset.
resultsMorning bright light treatment led to reduced pain intensity, pain behavior, thermal pain threshold sensitivity, post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms, and improved sleep quality (P < 0.05). Phase advances in circadian timing were associated with reductions in pain interference (r = 0.55, P < 0.05).
conclusionsMorning bright light treatment is a feasible and acceptable treatment for US veterans with chronic low back pain. Those who undergo morning bright light treatment may show improvements in pain, pain sensitivity, and sleep. Advances in circadian timing may be one mechanism by which morning bright light reduces pain. Morning bright light treatment should be further explored as an innovative treatment for chronic pain conditions.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.