Life-Style Medicine for Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain in Older People

NCT07194239 | Not Yet Recruiting

• 1 other identifier: 2025.553
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 268
• Locations: 0 countries
• Sites: N/A

Brief Summary

The goal of this clinical trial is to determine the clinical effectiveness of lifestyle medicine in reducing chronic musculoskeletal pain in older adults, as measured by pain intensity, pain interference, self-management efficacy, stress level, sleep quality, healthier diet, better quality of life, and cost-effectiveness, compared to a waitlist control group. Participants will be randomly assigned to either the intervention or the waitlist group. The intervention group will meet the health coach face-to-face for four sessions to negotiate and set personalized health goals. The waitlist control group will continue to receive usual care without any additional intervention for 24 weeks. Both groups will complete three assessments: at the start of the study, one month after the intervention, and three months after the intervention. The waitlist control group will be offered the same intervention after completing the study.

Conditions

Musculoskeletal; Pain Management; Chronic Pain; Musculoskeletal Pain

Keywords

Musculoskeletal pain; lifestyle medicine; older people; health coaching; Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain; Behavior change

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Brief Pain Inventory - Severity score

  The Brief Pain Inventory (BPI) is a self-report questionnaire that assesses the intensity of pain and its effects on daily functioning. BPI- Severity measures the intensity of pain. Participants are asked to rate their pain on a 0-10 Numeric Rating Scale for their pain experienced at its "worst," "least," "average," and "now" over the past 24 hours. Higher scores indicate greater pain severity.

  Week 0, 12, 24

Secondary Outcomes (10)

• BPI-Interference

  week 0, 12, 24

• Pain-Self Efficacy questionnaire

  Week 0 12, 24

• Chinese International Physical Activity Questionnaire (Short form)

  Week 0, 12, 24

• Chinese Short Food Frequency Questionnaire

  Week 0, 12, 24

• 10-item Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10)

  Week 0, 12, 24

Study Arms (2)

Waitlist control

NO INTERVENTION

Patients allocated to the Waitlist arm will continue receiving their "usual care" without any additional intervention until they have completed the outcome assessment at 24 weeks.

Intervention group

EXPERIMENTAL

A coaching context to enhance the well-being of individuals and to facilitate the achievement of their health-related goals. The coach will negotiate and set personalized health goals with participants, ensuring the goals are realistic, achievable, and aligned with their needs.

Behavioral: Lifestyle medicine Health coaching

Interventions

Lifestyle medicine Health coaching BEHAVIORAL

Participants assigned to this group will have 4 face-to-face sessions with the health coach. Lifestyle modifications with the aim of pain reduction will be determined in a shared decision-making approach. Lifestyle modifications will be based on the 6 pillars of lifestyle medicine: Physical activity, Healthy eating, Stress reduction, Sleep restoration, Social Support, and Avoiding risky substances. The health coach will make use of motivational techniques such as motivational interviewing to guide and assist participants in realizing the lifestyle modifications.

Intervention group

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 60 Years+
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: No
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• chronic musculoskeletal pain, defined as pain that lasted for more than 3 months persistently or intermittently, including regional pain (joints, limbs, back, and/or neck)
• a degenerative joint condition, such as osteoarthritis, and/or musculoskeletal complaints that fall under the classification of the International Classification of Disease-11 as "chronic primary musculoskeletal pain" or "chronic secondary musculoskeletal pain"
• Pain intensity score ≥ 4 on a numerical rating scale of 10
• stable baseline physical activity
• ability to understand written and verbal Chinese

You may not qualify if:

• patient with cancer-related pain
• inflammatory rheumatic disease
• a recent history of stroke or major surgery in the past 6 months
• terminal illness
• serious mental illness
• severe or uncontrolled heart disease
• comorbid conditions that might impede active participation in the study

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Chinese University of Hong Kong: lead

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Agnosia; Chronic Pain; Musculoskeletal Pain

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Perceptual Disorders; Neurobehavioral Manifestations; Neurologic Manifestations; Nervous System Diseases; Signs and Symptoms; Pathological Conditions, Signs and Symptoms; Pain; Muscular Diseases; Musculoskeletal Diseases

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: SINGLE
• Who Masked: OUTCOMES ASSESSOR
• Purpose: TREATMENT
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Associate Professor (Clinical)

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: September 17, 2025
• First Posted: September 26, 2025
• Study Start: November 1, 2025
• Primary Completion (Estimated): October 31, 2027
• Study Completion (Estimated): October 31, 2027
• Last Updated: September 26, 2025

Record last verified: 2025-09