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The Effect of Therapeutic Neuroscience Education on Chronic Low Back Pain

Physiotherapy Combined With Therapeutic Neuroscience Education Versus Physiotherapy Alone for Patients With Chronic Low Back Pain: a Randomized Controlled Trial

Status
Completed
Phases
NA
Study type
Interventional
Source
ClinicalTrials.gov
Registry ID
NCT04099576
Enrollment
31
Registered
2019-09-23
Start date
2016-11-07
Completion date
2017-09-13
Last updated
2019-09-23

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

Conditions

Chronic Low-back Pain

Keywords

therapeutic neuroscience education, chronic low back pain, kinesiophobia, pain

Brief summary

Ongoing fear and catastrophization in people with chronic low back pain (CLBP) causes increased pain, disability and kinesiophobia, and decreased endurance of trunk muscles. Nowadays, recurrent low back pain complaints are increasing day by day. Besides the use of electrophysical agents and exercise in the treatment of chronic low back pain, education methods used to reduce the negative effects of psychosocial factors are important for healing. Although there were studies about the combination of Therapeutic Neuroscience Education (TNE) with exercise in CLBP, there are no studies that combine electrophysical agents, exercise and TNE methods in the literature. Therefore, in this study, we aimed to investigate whether TNE combined with physiotherapy consisting of electrophysical modalities and home program exercise is superior to only physiotherapy in patients with CLBP.

Interventions

OTHERphysiotherapy and education

Hot-pack, ultrasound, trancutaneus nerve electrical stimulation (TENS) and home program exercises were applied or given to the individuals within the physiotherapy program. In addition to physiotherapy, therapeutic neuroscience education were applied to experimental group. One-to-one speech sessions focusing on pain neurophysiology were organized twice a week for three weeks. Each session lasted 40 minutes. The Therapeutic neuroscience education program included nociception, ion channel neurophysiology, central and peripheral sensitization, methods to help reduce sensitization, neuroplasticity, psychosocial factors involved in the transition from acute pain to chronic pain and behavioral, cognitive responses to pain.

Hot-pack, ultrasound, trancutaneus nerve electrical stimulation (TENS) and home program exercises were applied or given to the individuals within the physiotherapy program.

Sponsors

Pamukkale University
Lead SponsorOTHER

Study design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
SINGLE (Subject)

Eligibility

Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to 60 Years
Healthy volunteers
No

Inclusion criteria

The inclusion criteria were: * aged between 18-60 years * to have CLBP ˃ 3 months duration * to have independent walking ability * to be literate in Turkish.

Exclusion criteria

* to have vertebral compression fractures * to have transitional vertebrae * to have an underlying tumoral, rheumatologic or inflammatory disease * to have trauma, surgical history * to be pregnant or less than six months postpartum period

Design outcomes

Primary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Visual Analogue Scale1 minuteVisual Analogue Scale assessed pain severity. Visual Analog Scale is a straight horizontal line of fixed length, usually 100 mm. The ends are defined as the extreme limits of pain. hence the left end is usually labeled 'no pain', and the right end usually labeled 'extreme pain'. The score is determined by measuring the distance (mm) on the 10-cm line between the no pain anchor and the patient's mark by using a ruler. The scale is provided a range of scores from 0-100. High score indicates a high level of pain.
Tampa Kinesiophobia ScaleFive minutesTampa Kinesiophobia Scale (TKS) evaluated kinesiophobia. TKS is a questionnaire evaluating kinesiophobia due to low back pain. The TKS questionnaire contained 17 items that assessed fear-related concepts. Each item has a four-point Likert scale with scoring options tiered from strongly agree to strongly disagree and a total score ranging from 17 to 68. Higher scores represented stronger levels of fear avoidance behavior.

Secondary

MeasureTime frameDescription
partial curl-up1 minutepartial curl-up is an endurance test evaluating endurance of trunk flexors.
modified Sorensen testsFive minutesmodified Sorensen tests is an endurance test evaluating isometric endurance of trunk extansors.
Roland Morris IndexFive minutesRoland Morris Index (RMI) consists of 24 items related to physical functions. The questionnaire is a list of 24 statements relating to activities and the impairments of pain, appetite, mood, and sleep. A total score of the questionnaire range from 0 to 24 and a higher score indicate more severe disability.

Countries

Turkey (Türkiye)

Outcome results

None listed

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