Alberta Back Care Pathway (ABCp)

NCT05452876 | Recruiting Phase 2

• 1 other identifier: Pro00105576
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 240
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

Every year, the pain, disability, addiction, and expense associated with LBP increase in Alberta. This escalation is largely because most people with LBP seek care from family physicians who are unable to provide effective, guideline-based interventions due to three recognized barriers: 1) a lack of training, 2) a lack of no (or low) cost access to these interventions and 3) a lack of physician time and reimbursement to deliver these interventions. As a result, most LBP care provided in Alberta is "low-value". With input from Alberta patients, healthcare providers, administrators and international scientists, the Alberta Back Carepathway (ABCp) was designed to overcome these barriers by giving family physicians a common, guideline-based approach to coordinate, assess and manage LBP patients in day-to-day practice. The ABCp trains family physicians to quickly and easily place patients into 5 categories each having evidence-based interventions that can be provided by physicians at no or low cost to patients and no net cost to the healthcare system. By designing the ABCp to resolve barriers related to training, access and delivery, the ABCp will "pull" rather than "prod" patients and clinicians toward sustained, long-term implementation of this cost-effective solution. This study is based on a multi-clinic, controlled, non-randomized stepped-wedge study designed for urban and rural primary care networks (PCNs). The primary outcome will be decreased healthcare resource utilization with secondary improvements in quality of life and opioid consumption. Overall, the savings realized through ABCp will create a self-sustaining, scalable solution for LBP care in Alberta.

Conditions

Low Back Pain

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Primary Care visits

  Number of GP revisits for LBP

  Through study completion, an average of 30 months

Secondary Outcomes (2)

• GP ordered LBP imaging

  Through study completion, an average of 30 months

• GP requested specialist consultations

  Through study completion, an average of 30 months

Study Arms (2)

ABCp

EXPERIMENTAL

The patient sees MD that follows ABCp, patient then enrolls in ABCp intervention based on MD's categorization of low back pain.

Other: ABCp

Usual Care

ACTIVE COMPARATOR

The patient receives "usual care" at the clinical site.

Other: Usual Care

Interventions

ABCp OTHER

Intervention is a care pathway that helps primary care physicians categorize back pain patients with each category having preferred interventions.

ABCp

Usual Care OTHER

Standard of care treatment

Usual Care

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years+
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• Licensed physicians in the Edmonton West Primary Care Network (EWPCN) and the Calgary Chronic Pain Centre (CPC)
• Age ≥18 years; (no upper age limit)
• English speaking and a resident of Alberta who have cognition and language sufficient to understand written information, and to provide consent.
• Cauda equina syndrome or infection, fracture
• Single or multiple items such as age over 70, female, significant trauma, and prolonged corticosteroid use)
• Cancer (single or multiple items such as older age, and previous history of cancer)

You may not qualify if:

• Low back pain is caused by a recent motor vehicle accident
• WCB case
• Any known contraindication to exercise (i.e., unstable angina, uncontrolled arrhythmia, severe aortic stenosis).
• Current participation in a supervised exercise or rehabilitation program or enrolled in another interventional clinical trial.
• Plans for, or undergoing, surgery that would involve the spine directly or indirectly or place them into a position where any of the interventions in this trial would be contraindicated as a result of the surgery.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of Alberta: lead
• Canadian Chiropractic Research Foundation: collaborator
• Bone and Joint Health SCN: collaborator

Study Sites (1)

University of Alberta

Edmonton, Alberta, T6G 2G4, Canada

RECRUITING

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Low Back Pain

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Back Pain; Pain; Neurologic Manifestations; Signs and Symptoms; Pathological Conditions, Signs and Symptoms

Study Officials

• Brandyn Powelske, MScPT

  University of Alberta

  STUDY DIRECTOR

Central Study Contacts

Jennifer N Glumpak, MScPT

CONTACT

825-401-4157; jjcampbe@ualberta.ca

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: phase 2
• Allocation: NON RANDOMIZED
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: TREATMENT
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR

Model Details: non-randomized, stepped-wedge, multi-clinic (cluster) prospective cohort design having multiple controls within a primary care setting

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: May 9, 2022
• First Posted: July 11, 2022
• Study Start: March 31, 2021
• Primary Completion (Estimated): December 17, 2027
• Study Completion (Estimated): December 17, 2027
• Last Updated: August 29, 2025

Record last verified: 2025-08

Locations

CA (1)