NCT05851196

The Forgotten Role of Back Muscle Characteristics to Tailor Exercise Therapy for Recurrent Non-specific Low Back Pain

Back to Back: the Forgotten Role of Back Muscle Characteristics to Tailor Exercise Therapy for Recurrent Non-specific Low Back Pain

• Status: Recruiting
• Phase: —
• Study type: Observational
• Enrollment: 100 (estimated)
• Sponsor: Hasselt University · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years – 60 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Accepted

Summary

Patients with non-specific low back pain will be compared to healthy, age- and sex-matched controls to determine the most discriminating back muscle characteristics and to delineate possible phenotypes of patients with non-specific low back pain showing impaired proprioceptive postural control. Additionally, the group of patients with non-specific low back pain will receive a 16-week, high-load proprioceptive training program. The effects of this training program on the different back muscle characteristics and proprioceptive postural control will be evaluated.

Detailed description

The Back-to-Back study consists of a cross-sectional study and a proof-of-concept study. The cross-sectional study aims to gain more insight into the peripheral underlying mechanisms of impaired proprioceptive postural control in patients with non-specific low back pain. Macroscopic, microscopic, hemodynamic, and electrophysiological characteristics of the lumbar multifidus and erector spinae muscles will be compared between patients with non-specific low back pain and healthy, age- and sex-matched controls. The interrelatedness between these back muscle characteristics and the correlation with proprioceptive postural control will be examined. The most discriminating muscle characteristics will be determined based upon which phenotypes of patients with non-specific low back pain will be delineated. The proof-of-concept study aims to assess the effects of high-load proprioceptive training on back muscle characteristics and proprioceptive postural control in patients with non-specific low back pain.

Conditions

• Low Back Pain
• Back Pain Lower Back Chronic

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
OTHER	Proprioceptive training	A physiotherapist tailors the exercises to the patient's functional demands and pain- or fear-inducing activities. Guided by the therapist, patients look for ways to integrate the exercises into their daily life activities. Each week, patients receive feedback from the physiotherapist, and the training program is gradually progressed. The patients are instructed to perform the exercises daily, integrated into their daily activities, hobbies, and work. The program contains: (1) exercises to improve the sense of posture and movement, (2) exercises to correct the reference frame from which patients control posture and movement, (3) muscle control exercises, (4) exercises to increase variability in postures and movement patterns, (5) functionality: patients search for ways to correct and integrate alternative postures and movement patterns into their daily life, (6) high training frequency and high load, (7) focus on sensing, localizing and differentiating, rather than movement control.

Timeline

• Start date: 2024-01-15
• Primary completion: 2026-12-31
• Completion: 2027-12-31
• First posted: 2023-05-09
• Last updated: 2024-02-28

Locations

2 sites across 1 country: Belgium