Determining the Effectiveness of a New Phototherapy Treatment for the Knee Osteoarthritis

Light therapy (phototherapy) has previously been shown to help reduce pain for people with musculoskeletal pain conditions, such as knee osteoarthritis (OA). A new phototherapy has been developed that allows for customizing the intensity of light based on patient characteristics, such as the patient size and skin type. This new phototherapy approach needs to be evaluated to determine its effects. This study has been planned to determine how effective the new phototherapy is, but first it needs to be determined whether the study plans are feasible. This study will determine the feasibility of the full study by pilot testing the methods for the full trial with a group of 20 people with knee osteoarthritis. Participants will be randomly assigned to either receive the new phototherapy approach or a placebo phototherapy twice/week for four weeks. Pain and function will be measured over the four week treatment period and 12-weeks follow-up.