Grant: Operating Grant: SPOR Innovative Clinical Trial Multi-Year Grant - LOI

More than 1 in 5 Canadians live with chronic pain, negatively impacting productivity, and quality of life. People experiencing chronic pain often describe rhythmic pain fluctuations with intensity that increases or decreases during the day. Circadian (24-hour) rhythms are regulated by "clock" genes known to regulate both the nervous and immune systems, contributing importantly to the development and maintenance of pain. Appropriate pain reliefs improve patient condition, but few treatment options exist. Psychological therapies also seem effective but not accessible to the majority of people living witch chronic pain, due to wait times and costs. Some studies have confirmed the effect and adjunctive value of light-therapy for chronic pain showing that there is a potential for light therapy to improve pain and reduce "pain flares" and associated symptoms. We now want to narrow down the question and test whether a specific group of people responds better to this type of therapy based on their circadian pain fluctuations' profiles, identified using e-diaries, actigraph devices (watches), and baseline measures. We also want to pair light therapy with a self-management educational tool built on pain fluctuations' profiles, to test whether the effects of light therapy will be amplified using this tool in combination with light therapy. Findings from this innovative clinical trial will inform health-care decisions by providing evidence on the effectiveness, benefits, and harms of light therapy alone and in combination with a self-management educational tool. Furthermore, this will also inform on inter-individual differences in responding to light therapy and how certain circadian pain fluctuations' profiles might respond better to specific therapies (like light therapy) acting on circadian alterations.