NCT05086159

Effectiveness of Pain Neuroscience Education (PNE) to Veterans With Post-Traumatic Stress and Low Back Pain

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 47 (actual)
• Sponsor: Keller Army Community Hospital · Federal
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years – 65 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

This trial compared traditional pain and stress education plus physical therapy to pain neuroscience education plus physical therapy in individuals with post-traumatic stress and chronic low back pain.

Detailed description

Veterans and Service Members with low back pain (LBP) will be recruited for this research. Once Veterans consent to participate in this research, participants will undergo baseline testing. Next, participants will randomly be assigned to one of two types of education: pain neuroscience education or traditional biomedical education. Each Veteran will receive 30 minutes of interactive education once a week for 4 weeks, depending on their group assignment. Following each education session, Veterans will participate in an exercise class that will last approximately 30 minutes. After the 4 week intervention, Veterans will complete the same questionnaires and measures as at the beginning of the program. Veterans will also complete subjective questionnaires at 8 weeks. Finally, healthcare utilization will be measured for 12 months following the research intervention.

Conditions

• Chronic Low Back Pain
• Post-traumatic Stress

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	Pain Neuroscience Education	Weekly education sessions lasting approximately 30 minutes each, once a week for four weeks. Session 1: the nervous system is like an alarm to protect. Session 2: common ways the nervous system becomes sensitive. Session 3: importance of gradual conditioning and neuroplasticity. Session 4: common ways to decrease nervous system sensitivity.
BEHAVIORAL	Exercise	The exercise protocol for each group will be identical and modeled after the "Back to Fitness" program. This program will consist of a 5-10-minute cardiovascular warm-up of walking in place or riding an exercise bike. Next is a 15-minute circuit consisting of 10 different general exercises for 1-minute each. Finally, a 5-minute cool down will consist of light stretching and trunk range of motion exercises. Each exercise will be tailored as easy, medium, or hard depending on the individual patient's tolerance. This program has been shown to be equally as effective as motor control exercises for long-term outcomes in patients with non-specific LBP.
BEHAVIORAL	Traditional Education	Weekly education sessions lasting approximately 30 minutes each, once a week for four weeks. Session 1 will include a basic overview of the anatomy of the spine. Session 2 will discuss an overview of stress symptoms to include hypervigilance, avoidance, and re-experiencing. Session 3 will cover common recommendations delivered in stress education: the do's and don'ts of stress management. Session 4: review and mindfulness.

Timeline

• Start date: 2017-07-01
• Primary completion: 2019-05-01
• Completion: 2021-08-01
• First posted: 2021-10-20
• Last updated: 2021-10-27

Locations

1 site across 1 country: United States