NCT07322822

Active Coping Program for Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain: A Controlled Clinical Study

Effectiveness of an Active Coping Program on Pain, Disability, and Psychosocial Factors in Patients With Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain: A Controlled Clinical Study

• Status: Not Yet Recruiting
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 60 (estimated)
• Sponsor: Universidad de Extremadura · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

Chronic musculoskeletal pain is a highly prevalent condition that is often associated with persistent pain, physical disability, and maladaptive psychosocial factors such as pain catastrophizing, fear of movement, and central sensitization. These factors can contribute to pain persistence and reduced quality of life, highlighting the need for multimodal, non-pharmacological interventions that address both physical and psychological dimensions of pain. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of an active coping program for patients with chronic musculoskeletal pain compared with usual care. The intervention is designed to promote active pain management strategies through education, movement-based exercises, and behavioral approaches aimed at improving pain coping, reducing disability, and addressing psychosocial contributors to chronic pain. This is a controlled interventional study in which adult patients with chronic musculoskeletal pain will be allocated to either an intervention group receiving the active coping program or a control group receiving usual care. Outcome measures will be assessed at baseline and after completion of the intervention. Primary and secondary outcomes include pain-related disability, pain catastrophizing, fear of movement, symptoms of central sensitization, and health-related quality of life, measured using validated questionnaires. The findings of this study are expected to provide evidence on the clinical effectiveness of an active coping approach in the management of chronic musculoskeletal pain and to support its implementation in routine clinical practice within primary care settings.

Conditions

• Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain
• Chronic Pain

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	Active Coping Program	Participants assigned to this arm will receive an 8-week active coping program for chronic musculoskeletal pain. The program is a multimodal, non-pharmacological intervention aimed at improving self-management and active pain coping. Core components include pain education (e.g., understanding chronic pain mechanisms), movement-based therapeutic exercise/graded activity, and behavioral strategies to address maladaptive pain-related beliefs and behaviors (e.g., fear of movement and pain catastrophizing). The intervention is delivered following a standardized protocol to ensure consistency across participants.
OTHER	Usual Care	Participants assigned to this arm will receive usual care as provided in routine clinical practice in primary care. No additional study-specific intervention is delivered. Usual care may include standard medical management, general advice and education, and referral to other services as clinically indicated, according to local practice.

Timeline

• Start date: 2026-03-01
• Primary completion: 2026-09-01
• Completion: 2026-10-01
• First posted: 2026-01-07
• Last updated: 2026-03-19

Locations

1 site across 1 country: Spain