NCT05103462

Telehealth Physical Therapy for Chronic Back Pain - Ancillary Study to NCT03859713

Observational Study of Telehealth Physical Therapy Provided for Persons With Chronic Low Back Pain

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 126 (actual)
• Sponsor: University of Utah · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years – 64 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

This study evaluated the feasibility of an 8-week physical therapy program for persons with chronic low back pain provided entirely using telehealth with real-time, interactive video sessions with a physical therapist.

Detailed description

At the time of the onset of the COVID pandemic, the research team was conducting a clinical trial (the OPTIMIZE trial) investigating different nonpharmacologic treatments for persons with chronic low back pain (NCT03859713). One intervention arm in this trial is in-person physical therapy. COVID-related restrictions on in-person care prompted suspension of the OPTIMIZE trial. In order to accommodate persons in the midst of receiving treatment at the time of suspension, the study team adapted the in-person protocol for physical therapy for telehealth delivery using two-way, real-time video sessions. Because of the lack of research examining the feasibility of telehealth physical therapy provided in this manner, the study team decided to conduct a pilot study to examine the feasibility of the telehealth protocol. This study was a prospective, longitudinal cohort of persons with chronic LBP seeking care in one of three healthcare systems; University of Utah Health and Intermountain Healthcare in Salt Lake City, Utah, and Johns Hopkins Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland. All participants were offered up to 8 weekly sessions of telehealth physical therapy. Outcomes included measures of acceptability, appropriateness, feasibility and fidelity as well as effectiveness measures including the Oswestry Disability Index and the PROMIS-29 health domains. Assessments occurred at baseline and after 10- and 26-weeks.

Conditions

• Low Back Pain

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	Telehealth Physical Therapy	Weekly sessions of physical therapy provided using two-way, interactive, video technology consisting of education, advice and exercise instruction.

Timeline

• Start date: 2020-08-18
• Primary completion: 2020-12-18
• Completion: 2021-08-13
• First posted: 2021-11-02
• Last updated: 2021-11-02

Locations

2 sites across 1 country: United States