Light therapy wearable with jacketed side-emitting optical fiber

1. A light therapy wearable comprising:

a fabric panel; and

a side-emitting light tube affixed to or held against the fabric panel,

the side-emitting light tube including a side-emitting optical fiber and a jacket at least partially surrounding the side-emitting optical fiber,

the jacket being made from a light-transmissive material and having a durometer of at least 50 A and an outer diameter at least seven times a core diameter of the side-emitting optical fiber.

2. The light therapy wearable of claim 1 , wherein the side-emitting optical fiber includes a core being made from a synthetic polymeric material.

3. The light therapy wearable of claim 2 , wherein the side-emitting optical fiber includes cladding surrounding the core.

4. The light therapy wearable of claim 2 , wherein the synthetic polymeric material from which the core is made is polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA).

5. The light therapy wearable of claim 1 , wherein the jacket is made of silicone.

6. The light therapy wearable of claim 5 , wherein the jacket is extruded over the side-emitting optical fiber with the jacket surrounding and in contact with the side-emitting optical fiber.

7. The light therapy wearable of claim 6 , wherein the side-emitting optical fiber is movable with respect to the jacket in an axial direction, which is parallel with a longest dimension of the side-emitting light tube.

8. The light therapy wearable of claim 1 , wherein the core diameter of the side-emitting optical fiber is less than or equal to 0.5 mm.

9. The light therapy wearable of claim 8 , wherein the core diameter of the side-emitting optical fiber is at least 0.20 mm.

10. The light therapy wearable of claim 9 , wherein the outer diameter of the jacket is less than or equal to 2.4 mm.

11. The light therapy wearable of claim 1 , wherein the side-emitting optical fiber is movable with respect to the jacket in an axial direction, which is parallel with a longest dimension of the side-emitting light tube.

12. The light therapy wearable of claim 1 , wherein the outer diameter of the jacket is less than 11.5 times the core diameter of the side-emitting optical fiber.

13. The light therapy wearable of claim 1 , further comprising a light-transmissive inner layer affixed to the fabric panel and at least partially covering the side-emitting light tube.

14. The light therapy wearable of claim 13 , further comprising an intermediate channel layer between the fabric panel and the light-transmissive inner layer, the intermediate channel layer being affixed to the light-transmissive inner layer and defining a channel in which the side-emitting light tube is received.

15. The light therapy wearable of claim 14 , wherein the light-transmissive inner layer is a fabric mesh material.

16. The light therapy wearable of claim 15 , wherein the intermediate channel layer is a jersey cotton fabric sewn to the light-transmissive inner layer.

17. The light therapy wearable of claim 15 , wherein the intermediate channel layer is jersey cotton bias tape that is adhered or sewn to the light-transmissive inner layer.

18. The light therapy wearable of claim 14 , wherein the intermediate channel layer is not affixed to the fabric panel.