NCT05860205

Brief Summary

The goal of this clinical trial is to pilot test a newly developed multiple component mobile-aid pain reduction intervention (MCMAPRI) and the feasibility of implementing this intervention in adult patients with myofascial pain syndrome of the low back. The main questions it aims to answer are:

  • What are the effects of the MCMAPRI intervention on reducing levels of myofascial pain in adult patients with myofascial pain syndrome of the low back?
  • What is the feasibility for implementing the MCMAPRI intervention in adult patients with myofascial pain syndrome of the low back? Participants will be randomly assigned to one of three groups: no treatment group, MCMAPRI intervention + sham osteopathic manipulation treatment, or MCMAPRI intervention +osteopathic manipulation treatment.
  • Participants assigned to the no treatment group will only receive educational materials through email and a weekly phone call from the coordinator to reduce dropouts.
  • Participants assigned to the multiple component mobile-aid pain reduction intervention+sham osteopathic manipulation treatment group will be asked to engage in posture training through a wearable device (i.e., UPRIGHT GO), a core muscle training and stretching exercise program, stress reduction through breath focus, and in strategies to improve their level of daily activity (i.e., wearing a Garmin device). This group will receive a sham osteopathic manipulation treatment by placing hands on the patient as if osteopathic manipulation treatment is being performed.
  • Participants assigned to the MCMAPRI intervention+sham osteopathic manipulation treatment group will be asked to engage in posture training through a wearable device (i.e., UPRIGHT GO), a core muscle training and stretching exercise program, stress reduction through breath focus, and in strategies to improve their level of daily activity (i.e., wearing a Garmin device). This group will receive actual osteopathic manipulation treatment by putting pressure on certain muscles in the back and performing osteopathic manipulation treatment exercises on the patient. Researchers will compare the no treatment group, multiple component mobile-aid pain reduction intervention+sham osteopathic manipulation treatment group, and multiple component mobile-aid pain reduction intervention+osteopathic manipulation treatment group to see if there are decreased levels of pain, increased physical activity, better posture, and reduced levels of stress.

Trial Health

43
At Risk

Trial Health Score

Automated assessment based on enrollment pace, timeline, and geographic reach

Trial has exceeded expected completion date
Enrollment
30

participants targeted

Target at below P25 for not_applicable

Timeline
Completed

Started May 2023

Shorter than P25 for not_applicable

Geographic Reach
1 country

2 active sites

Status
unknown

Health score is calculated from publicly available data and should be used for screening purposes only.

Trial Relationships

Click on a node to explore related trials.

Study Timeline

Key milestones and dates

First Submitted

Initial submission to the registry

April 18, 2023

Completed
13 days until next milestone

Study Start

First participant enrolled

May 1, 2023

Completed
15 days until next milestone

First Posted

Study publicly available on registry

May 16, 2023

Completed
4 months until next milestone

Primary Completion

Last participant's last visit for primary outcome

September 1, 2023

Completed
3 months until next milestone

Study Completion

Last participant's last visit for all outcomes

December 1, 2023

Completed
Last Updated

May 16, 2023

Status Verified

May 1, 2023

Enrollment Period

4 months

First QC Date

April 18, 2023

Last Update Submit

May 5, 2023

Conditions

Keywords

Myofascial Pain SyndromeLow Back PainMyofascial Trigger Points

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (5)

  • Self-report pain Level

    Patients will be asked to report their pain level verbally using a scale from 0-10 where 0 represents no pain and 10 represents the worst pain they have ever felt.

    Baseline (Time 1), Change from Baseline at 6 weeks (Time 2), and Change from Baseline at 12 weeks (Time 3)

  • Pain pressure threshold (PPT)

    PPT will be measured by applying pressure to the trigger points on the patients back using an algometer device. The patient will be instructed to tell as as soon as they feel pain at which point the device is removed and the total pounds of force that were applied will be recorded.

    Baseline (Time 1), Change from Baseline at 6 weeks (Time 2), and Change from Baseline at 12 weeks (Time 3)

  • Elasticity of the Myofascial Trigger Point

    The elasticity of myofascial trigger points will be measured through the analysis of ultrasound images taken.

    Baseline (Time 1), Change from Baseline at 6 weeks (Time 2), and Change from Baseline at 12 weeks (Time 3)

  • Depth of the Myofascial Trigger Point

    The depth of the myofascial trigger points in the muscle will be measured through the analysis of ultrasound images taken.

    Baseline (Time 1), Change from Baseline at 6 weeks (Time 2), and Change from Baseline at 12 weeks (Time 3)

  • Size of the Myofascial Trigger Point

    The size of the myofascial trigger points will be measured through the analysis of ultrasound images taken.

    Baseline (Time 1), Change from Baseline at 6 weeks (Time 2), and Change from Baseline at 12 weeks (Time 3)

Secondary Outcomes (17)

  • Pain intensity and interference

    Baseline (Time 1), Change from Baseline at 6 weeks (Time 2), and Change from Baseline at 12 weeks (Time 3)

  • Physical functioning/quality of life

    Baseline (Time 1), Change from Baseline at 6 weeks (Time 2), and Change from Baseline at 12 weeks (Time 3)

  • Sleep Disturbance

    Baseline (Time 1), Change from Baseline at 6 weeks (Time 2), and Change from Baseline at 12 weeks (Time 3)

  • Sleep duration

    Baseline (Time 1), Change from Baseline at 6 weeks (Time 2), and Change from Baseline at 12 weeks (Time 3)

  • Pain catastrophizing

    Baseline (Time 1), Change from Baseline at 6 weeks (Time 2), and Change from Baseline at 12 weeks (Time 3)

  • +12 more secondary outcomes

Study Arms (3)

No treatment condition

NO INTERVENTION

Group 1 (no treatment condition) will only receive educational materials through email and a weekly phone call from Coordinator to reduce dropouts for 12 weeks.

Multiple component mobile-aid pain reduction intervention + sham osteopathic manipulation treatment

ACTIVE COMPARATOR

Group 2 will receive the new intervention and sham osteopathic manipulative treatment for 12 weeks.

Behavioral: Multiple Component Mobile-Aid Pain Reduction InterventionOther: Sham Osteopathic Manipulation

Multiple component mobile-aid pain reduction intervention + osteopathic manipulation treatment

ACTIVE COMPARATOR

Group 3 will receive both the multiple component mobile-aid pain reduction intervention and actual osteopathic manipulation treatment for 12 weeks.

Behavioral: Multiple Component Mobile-Aid Pain Reduction InterventionOther: Osteopathic Manipulation Treatment

Interventions

1.Posture training through the wearable device, UPRIGHT GO. The participant wears the device on their neck. The device provides biofeedback to poor posture with vibrations and tracks posture. 2. A daily core muscle training and stretching exercise program including trunk rotation, lumbar rotation, hip flexor stretch, side plank, glute bridge, suitcase carry, and palloff press. 3. Participants will practice stress reduction through breath focus which will help them to concentrate on deep breathing to help them ignore distracting thoughts and sensations. 4. Strategies to improve daily level of activity including wearing a Garmin device that tracks their daily physical activity and reminds them to walk and the use of the communication principle to assist participants in overcoming barriers to physical activity.

Multiple component mobile-aid pain reduction intervention + osteopathic manipulation treatmentMultiple component mobile-aid pain reduction intervention + sham osteopathic manipulation treatment

Osteopathic Manipulation Treatment (OMT) will be conducted by putting pressure on certain muscles in the back and performing OMT exercises on the patient. The physician will treat participants with OMT twice during month 1 and once during month 2 and 3.

Multiple component mobile-aid pain reduction intervention + osteopathic manipulation treatment

The sham osteopathic manipulation treatment (OMT) will be performed by the medical team. Hands will be placed on the patient as if the OMT is being performed. The physician will treat participants with sham OMT twice during month 1 and once during month 2 and 3.

Multiple component mobile-aid pain reduction intervention + sham osteopathic manipulation treatment

Eligibility Criteria

Age18 Years - 64 Years
Sexall
Healthy VolunteersYes
Age GroupsAdult (18-64)

Contact the study team to confirm eligibility.

Sponsors & Collaborators

Study Sites (2)

Auburn University

Auburn, Alabama, 36849, United States

Location

Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine (VCOM)

Auburn, Alabama, 36849, United States

Location

Related Publications (20)

  • Dua A, Chang KV. Myofascial Pain Syndrome. 2025 Apr 13. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2025 Jan-. Available from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK499882/

    PMID: 29763057BACKGROUND
  • Skootsky SA, Jaeger B, Oye RK. Prevalence of myofascial pain in general internal medicine practice. West J Med. 1989 Aug;151(2):157-60.

    PMID: 2788962BACKGROUND
  • Botwin KP, Patel BC. Electromyographically guided trigger point injections in the cervicothoracic musculature of obese patients: a new and unreported technique. Pain Physician. 2007 Nov;10(6):753-6.

    PMID: 17987097BACKGROUND
  • Iglesias-Gonzalez JJ, Munoz-Garcia MT, Rodrigues-de-Souza DP, Alburquerque-Sendin F, Fernandez-de-Las-Penas C. Myofascial trigger points, pain, disability, and sleep quality in patients with chronic nonspecific low back pain. Pain Med. 2013 Dec;14(12):1964-70. doi: 10.1111/pme.12224. Epub 2013 Aug 15.

    PMID: 23947760BACKGROUND
  • Lundberg U, Kadefors R, Melin B, Palmerud G, Hassmen P, Engstrom M, Dohns IE. Psychophysiological stress and EMG activity of the trapezius muscle. Int J Behav Med. 1994;1(4):354-70. doi: 10.1207/s15327558ijbm0104_5.

    PMID: 16250795BACKGROUND
  • Tsai PF, Wang CH, Zhou Y, Ren J, Jones A, Watts SO, Chou C, Ku WS. A classification algorithm to predict chronic pain using both regression and machine learning - A stepwise approach. Appl Nurs Res. 2021 Dec;62:151504. doi: 10.1016/j.apnr.2021.151504. Epub 2021 Sep 28.

    PMID: 34815000BACKGROUND
  • Boissoneault J, Sevel L, Letzen J, Robinson M, Staud R. Biomarkers for Musculoskeletal Pain Conditions: Use of Brain Imaging and Machine Learning. Curr Rheumatol Rep. 2017 Jan;19(1):5. doi: 10.1007/s11926-017-0629-9.

    PMID: 28144827BACKGROUND
  • Chu Y, Zhao X, Han J, Su Y. Physiological Signal-Based Method for Measurement of Pain Intensity. Front Neurosci. 2017 May 26;11:279. doi: 10.3389/fnins.2017.00279. eCollection 2017.

    PMID: 28603478BACKGROUND
  • Jiang, M. et al. Ultra-short-term analysis of heart rate variability for real-time acute pain monitoring with wearable electronics. IEEE International Conference on Bioinformatics and Biomedicine (BIBM), 1025-1032 (2017).

    BACKGROUND
  • Tavakolian M, Hadid A. Deep binary representation of facial expressions: A novel framework for automatic pain intensity recognition. In2018 25th IEEE International Conference on Image Processing (ICIP) 2018 Oct 7 (pp. 1952-1956). IEEE.

    BACKGROUND
  • Gupta G, Alok M. Effectiveness of plank exercise in low back pain. Int. J. Sci. Res. 2018;9(5).

    BACKGROUND
  • Withall J, Jago R, Fox KR. Why some do but most don't. Barriers and enablers to engaging low-income groups in physical activity programmes: a mixed methods study. BMC Public Health. 2011 Jun 28;11:507. doi: 10.1186/1471-2458-11-507.

    PMID: 21711514BACKGROUND
  • Carroll JK, Fiscella K, Epstein RM, Sanders MR, Williams GC. A 5A's communication intervention to promote physical activity in underserved populations. BMC Health Serv Res. 2012 Oct 30;12:374. doi: 10.1186/1472-6963-12-374.

    PMID: 23110376BACKGROUND
  • Calatayud J, Escriche-Escuder A, Cruz-Montecinos C, Andersen LL, Perez-Alenda S, Aiguade R, Casana J. Tolerability and Muscle Activity of Core Muscle Exercises in Chronic Low-back Pain. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2019 Sep 20;16(19):3509. doi: 10.3390/ijerph16193509.

    PMID: 31547140BACKGROUND
  • Zaccaro A, Piarulli A, Laurino M, Garbella E, Menicucci D, Neri B, Gemignani A. How Breath-Control Can Change Your Life: A Systematic Review on Psycho-Physiological Correlates of Slow Breathing. Front Hum Neurosci. 2018 Sep 7;12:353. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2018.00353. eCollection 2018.

    PMID: 30245619BACKGROUND
  • Wandner LD, Domenichiello AF, Beierlein J, Pogorzala L, Aquino G, Siddons A, Porter L, Atkinson J; NIH Pain Consortium Institute and Center Representatives. NIH's Helping to End Addiction Long-termSM Initiative (NIH HEAL Initiative) Clinical Pain Management Common Data Element Program. J Pain. 2022 Mar;23(3):370-378. doi: 10.1016/j.jpain.2021.08.005. Epub 2021 Sep 9.

    PMID: 34508905BACKGROUND
  • McCarthy EK, Horvat MA, Holtsberg PA, Wisenbaker JM. Repeated chair stands as a measure of lower limb strength in sexagenarian women. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci. 2004 Nov;59(11):1207-12. doi: 10.1093/gerona/59.11.1207.

    PMID: 15602077BACKGROUND
  • Lord SR, Murray SM, Chapman K, Munro B, Tiedemann A. Sit-to-stand performance depends on sensation, speed, balance, and psychological status in addition to strength in older people. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci. 2002 Aug;57(8):M539-43. doi: 10.1093/gerona/57.8.m539.

    PMID: 12145369BACKGROUND
  • Piva SR, Fitzgerald GK, Irrgang JJ, Bouzubar F, Starz TW. Get up and go test in patients with knee osteoarthritis. Arch Phys Med Rehabil. 2004 Feb;85(2):284-9. doi: 10.1016/j.apmr.2003.05.001.

    PMID: 14966715BACKGROUND
  • ATS Committee on Proficiency Standards for Clinical Pulmonary Function Laboratories. ATS statement: guidelines for the six-minute walk test. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2002 Jul 1;166(1):111-7. doi: 10.1164/ajrccm.166.1.at1102. No abstract available.

    PMID: 12091180BACKGROUND

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Myofascial Pain SyndromesLow Back Pain

Interventions

Manipulation, Osteopathic

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Muscular DiseasesMusculoskeletal DiseasesBack PainPainNeurologic ManifestationsSigns and SymptomsPathological Conditions, Signs and Symptoms

Intervention Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Musculoskeletal ManipulationsComplementary TherapiesTherapeuticsPhysical Therapy ModalitiesRehabilitation

Study Officials

  • Pao-Feng Tsai, PhD

    Auburn University

    PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
  • Joseph Edison, DO

    Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine

    PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Central Study Contacts

Pao-Feng Tsai, PhD

CONTACT

Study Design

Study Type
interventional
Phase
not applicable
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Masking
DOUBLE
Who Masked
PARTICIPANT, OUTCOMES ASSESSOR
Masking Details
The participants will not know if they are assigned to the multiple component mobile-aid pain reduction intervention and sham osteopathic manipulation treatment group or the multiple component mobile-aid pain reduction intervention and actual osteopathic manipulation treatment group. Additionally, the outcomes assessors will not know which groups the participants have been assigned to.
Purpose
TREATMENT
Intervention Model
PARALLEL
Model Details: Group 1 (no treatment condition) will only receive educational materials through email and a weekly phone call from the Coordinator to reduce dropouts for 12 weeks. Group 2 will receive the new multiple component mobile-aid pain reduction intervention (MCMAPRI) and sham osteopathic manipulative treatment \[OMT\] for 12 weeks. Group 3 will receive both MCMAPRI and actual OMT for 12 weeks.
Sponsor Type
OTHER
Responsible Party
SPONSOR INVESTIGATOR
PI Title
Research Coordinator

Study Record Dates

First Submitted

April 18, 2023

First Posted

May 16, 2023

Study Start

May 1, 2023

Primary Completion

September 1, 2023

Study Completion

December 1, 2023

Last Updated

May 16, 2023

Record last verified: 2023-05

Locations