Green light would be more effective in relieving chronic pain than red light.
- In patients with fibromyalgia, green light reduced pain and improved their quality of life.
- It also alleviated headaches in adults with migraines.
- On the other hand, red light amplifies the symptoms of this headache.
“Phototherapy is an emerging non-pharmacological treatment for depression, circadian rhythm disturbances and neurodegeneration, and pain. However, the mechanism, which inhibits pain sensitivity, induced by phototherapy is not well understood. Understood”, said researchers from the universities of St. Louis (USA) and Zhejiang (China).
Fibromyalgia, migraine: green light, a future painkiller for patients?
In a recent study, they were interested in the neural circuits of the lateral geniculate body of the thalamus. This is a part of the brain that processes visual information from the retina. Their goal ? Understand how optical signals were processed and how different colors of light could influence pain perception.
According to the results, published in the journal Neurobiology of Disease, green light had positive effects on people with fibromyalgia. In detail, it reduced pain and improved their quality of life. Another finding: adults with migraines also reported that their headaches had decreased. On the other hand, the red light amplified their symptoms.
Specific neural mechanisms activated by green light
According to the team, the green light activated neurons in the lateral geniculate body that use glutamate, an excitatory brain neurotransmitter. As for the red light, it activated the neurons that use GABA, namely the main inhibitory neurotransmitter. This discovery makes it possible to envisage new treatments for chronic pain by targeting these specific neurons. However, the authors point out that more research needs to be done to confirm their findings.
