NCT02771990

tDCS for Chronic Low Back Pain

tDCS for Chronic Low Back Pain: A Study Examining the Effect of Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation on the Emotional Response to Chronic Low Back Pain

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 30 (actual)
• Sponsor: Providence VA Medical Center · Federal
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

The goal of this study is to investigate the role of central neural pathways in mediating chronic pain. The aim of the study is to test the effect of stimulating brain regions that are part of a network underlying central pain processing using a non-invasive brain stimulation technique, transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS). Prior studies have used tDCS to target both sensory related cortical areas and those important for higher-order representations of pain. This study will target brain regions important for the behavioral response to the chronic sensation of pain. The hypothesis is that stimulation of these brain regions can modulate not only the affective component of pain, but ultimately also improve functioning and quality of life. This hypothesis will be tested by treating study participants eighteen and older with chronic low back pain (CLBP) of greater than six months using tDCS. To be part of this study, participants must meet all the inclusion and exclusion criteria.

Conditions

• Chronic Low Back Pain

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
DEVICE	Sham transcranial direct current stimulation	sham stimulation
DEVICE	transcranial direct current stimulation	2 milliamp (mA) 20 minutes

Timeline

• Start date: 2013-10-01
• Primary completion: 2018-04-03
• Completion: 2018-04-03
• First posted: 2016-05-13
• Last updated: 2023-03-29
• Results posted: 2021-05-04