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Pain Neuroscience Education for Depression

Pain Neuroscience Education for Depression

Status
Completed
Phases
NA
Study type
Interventional
Source
ClinicalTrials.gov
Registry ID
NCT04023435
Acronym
PNEdepress
Enrollment
30
Registered
2019-07-17
Start date
2019-06-01
Completion date
2019-11-05
Last updated
2023-01-17

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Chronic Low-back Pain, Depression

Keywords

chronic, Low-Back Pain, Depression

Brief summary

This study will look at the effects of Pain Neuroscience Education on a Depression outcome tool in patients with chronic low back pain.

Detailed description

Pain and depression have been shown to be interrelated, especially chronic pain: people in chronic pain develop depression and people with depression develop chronic pain. In light of this coexistence it is not surprising that current best-evidence for depression and chronic pain shows significant overlap which includes primarily some type of cognitive intervention, aerobic exercise, and skilled delivery of medication including selective-serotonin-reuptake-inhibitors and/or membrane stabilizers. Current best-evidence regarding musculoskeletal pain provides strong support for Pain Neuroscience Education (PNE) to positively influence pain ratings, dysfunction, and limitations in movement, pain knowledge and healthcare utilization. Additionally, PNE has shown to powerfully influence psychosocial issues that powerfully influence pain and depression: fear-avoidance and pain catastrophization. Evidence is lacking in whether PNE could also influence depression ratings. The purpose of this study is to examine the immediate effect of PNE on pain, function, and depressive symptoms (using the Patient Health Questionnaire - PHQ-9) in patients attending PT for chronic low back pain (LBP). This will be a pre- and post-intervention convenience sample of consecutive patients with chronic LBP (pain \> 6 months) meeting the inclusion criteria, attending outpatient PT. On initial examination, intake data and information will be collected prior to PNE and immediately following PNE.

Interventions

OTHERPNE edcuation

The PNE session will last 30 minutes and will be delivered in a one-on-one educational format with a clinician using prepared images, drawings and metaphors. The 30-minute PNE session was chosen to reflect a clinically meaningful intervention in a typical allocated time frame in clinical practice. The content of the PNE is described in detail elsewhere, using a metaphors to explain various aspects of pain including sensitization of the peripheral and central nervous system (sensitive alarm system metaphor); spreading pain (nosy neighbors metaphor); increases problems with focus and concentration (brain meeting metaphor) and difficulty with fatigue and sleep (lion metaphor).

Sponsors

St. Ambrose University
Lead SponsorOTHER

Study design

Allocation
NA
Intervention model
SINGLE_GROUP
Primary purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE

Masking description

No other parties will be masked.

Intervention model description

This will be a pre- and post-intervention convenience sample of consecutive patients with chronic LBP (pain \> 6 months) meeting the inclusion criteria, attending outpatient PT. On initial examination, intake data and information will be collected prior to PNE and immediately following PNE.

Eligibility

Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to 90 Years
Healthy volunteers
Yes

Inclusion criteria

* adults over the age of 18 * presenting at PT with a primary complaint of LBP * LBP being present for 6 months or more * fluent in English * willing to participate in the study.

Exclusion criteria

* are under age 18 (minor) * had undergone lumbar surgery * cannot read or understand the English language * presents with any cognitive deficits rendering them unsuitable for PNE (i.e., stroke, traumatic brain injury, etc.) * decline to participate * present with a medical etiology (red flag) associated with their LBP.

Design outcomes

Primary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Low back pain ratingwithin a single, 90 minute sessionNumeric Pain Rating Scale for Back Pain (0 = no pain and 10 = worst pain). The minimal detectable change (MDC) for the NPRS for low back pain is reported to be 2.0.
Pain Catastrophization Scalewithin a single, 90 minute sessionThe PCS is a self-report questionnaire assessing inappropriate coping strategies and catastrophic thinking about pain and injury. on a 13-item, 5-point Likert scale with higher scores indicating elevated levels of catastrophizing.
revised Pain Neurophysiology Questionnaire - rNPQwithin a single, 90 minute sessionThe NPQ measures the neurophysiology knowledge of patients and healthcare personnel. The original NPQ is a 19-item questionnaire requesting 'true'; 'false'; or 'not sure' answers to statements, with higher scores indicating more correct answers.
Patient Health Questionnaire - PHQ-9within a single, 90 minute sessionThe PHQ-9 is the nine item depression scale

Countries

United States

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Feb 4, 2026