Mindfulness and Chronic Low Back Pain
Chronic Low Back Pain
About this trial
This is an interventional basic science trial for Chronic Low Back Pain focused on measuring Mindfulness, fMRI, Pain, Low Back, Radicular
Eligibility Criteria
Inclusion criteria are:
- Participants must have a medical evaluation that demonstrates chronic low back pain that is evoked by lifting the legs. Existing medical records, per physician discretion and low back examinations will confirm diagnosis. This will be determined over the phone during the (pre) screening and at study session 1, and will not be contingent on MRI.
- Participants must be between the ages of 18-65 years.
- Participants must rate their daily chronic pain intensity at a 3 or greater on 0-10 visual analog scale.
- Participants must have experienced their radicular pain for at least 3 months duration.
- Participants must be right-handed.
- Participants must have no prior meditative experience
Exclusion criteria:
- Participants must not be participating in any new (within 2 weeks prior or anytime after enrollment) pain management procedures during the study period.
- Participants must not have had back surgery within the last year before their enrollment into the study.
- Participants must not have had any other sensory or motor deficits that precludes participation in this study.
- Participants must not have known anomalies of the central nervous system including: stroke, dementia, aneurysm, a personal history of psychosis.
- Participants must not have metal implants including ferrous arterial stints or coils, spinal stimulators, pacemakers, or defibrillators, permanently implanted hearing aides, bullets, BBs, or pellets, retinal eye implants, infusion pump for insulin or other medicines, ferrous surgical clips, staples, metal sutures, orthopedic hardware above or including the shoulders, body piercings that cannot be removed.
- Participants must not be claustrophobic.
- Participants must not produce negative straight leg test (i.e. a test is considered positive when the person reports reproducible pain at 40 degrees of hip flexion or less).
- Participants must not be pregnant
- Participants must not be over 275 pounds
Sites / Locations
- UC San Diego Center for Functional MRIRecruiting
- UC San DiegoRecruiting
Arms of the Study
Arm 1
Arm 2
Arm 3
Experimental
Active Comparator
Active Comparator
Meditation Group
Meditatin Group
Book Listening Control Group
Study volunteers will participate in a twelve-session meditation training regimen. In brief, subjects will be taught that perceived sensory events are "momentary" and "fleeting" and do not require further evaluation. There will be an emphasis on breath focus and altering one's perspective of discursive sensory events. This intervention has been found to reliably attenuate the subjective experience of pain.
Study volunteers will participate in a twelve-session meditation training regimen. In brief, subjects will be taught that perceived sensory events are "momentary" and "fleeting" and do not require further evaluation. There will be an emphasis on breath focus and altering one's perspective of discursive sensory events. This intervention has been found to reliably attenuate the subjective experience of pain.
Study volunteers will listen to an audio recording of the Natural History of Selborne across each session.This 12 session intervention is meant to provide the control attention to the facilitator, room setting, social support, conditioning, and the time elapsed during the other respective interventions. We do not expect that this group will demonstrate significant cerebral blood flow changes as a function of the intervention.