Active clinical trials for "Back Pain"

Low back pain affects 80% of Americans at some time during their lives. Although recovery usually occurs within 6 months, there is a 50% recurrence within one year's time. It has long been thought that poor control of trunk muscle may lead to abnormal forces across the spine, which then damage local spinal structures, thus, leading to low back pain. However, the investigators know little about the function of specific trunk muscles in healthy subjects during various activities of daily life. Furthermore, the precise muscle dysfunction associated with low back pain has not been well characterized at all. In addition, the investigators know little about which exercise protocol is most beneficial for particular subgroups of people with low back pain. Thus, the purposes of this study are to learn more about: 1) how trunk muscles are affected by low back pain; 2) which exercises might be most beneficial for people with certain kinds of low back pain; and 3) how these exercises influence trunk muscle function. By having a better understanding of which trunk muscles are affected by low back pain, rehabilitation specialists can design exercise programs and therapeutic interventions that are more specific and more effective.

We are doing this study to investigate the effects of acupuncture on chronic low back pain. We are interested in learning about brain activity during pain. We plan to look at brain activity at the beginning and the end of the study, after 6 sessions of acupuncture treatment. You will be randomly assigned to one of two groups to receive either real or placebo acupuncture. Acupuncture has been used for many years to help relieve pain. However, it is not clear how acupuncture works. Acupuncture may relieve pain by changing activity in the nervous system. Some studies indicate that acupuncture may relieve the low back pain. However, we need more research to see how well acupuncture works to relieve pain for people with this condition. In this study, we will measure your brain activity before and after you do exercises to make your back pain worse. We will also measure your brain activity while inflating a pressure cuff device on your lower leg. We will measure this brain activity using a research tool called functional MRI (fMRI). Functional MRI is a very fast MRI that uses radio waves and a magnet, and allows the study investigators to look at changes in blood flow to different parts of the brain when there are changes in brain activity.

Do spinal stabilization exercises demonstrate immediate and long-term effects of weight weeks of spinal stabilization exercises as measured by pain intensity and quality of life scores? Does eight weeks of spinal stabilization exercises improve back muscle endurance in adolescents with Idiopathic Scoliosis (IS) with low back pain (LBP), compared to a one-time treatment (control)? Hypotheses: The research hypothesis for Question 1 is: Participants who receive eight weeks of spinal stabilization exercises will demonstrate significantly improved pain intensity and quality of life scores compared to participants who receive a one-time treatment after eight weeks of the intervention period and at six-month follow-up. The research hypothesis for Question 2 is: Participants who receive eight weeks of the spinal stabilization exercises will demonstrate significantly improved back muscle endurance, compared to participants who receive a one-time treatment after eight weeks of intervention.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of a Global Postural Reeducation (GPR) program in subjects with chronic low back pain.

The purpose of this study is to determine if the Pain Relief Patch, which shines light of a limited wavelength on the painful area of the back, relieves chronic musculoskeletal back pain. At the same time, this study will gather information on side effects associated with use of the Pain Relief Patch. The study will compare the Pain Relief Patch to a patch that is similar in appearance, but which shines a different, presumed nontherapeutic, wavelength of light.

The purpose of this project is to compare "usual care" for chronic low back disorders in a rural setting (nurse practitioner/NP) to two different means of integrating Physical Therapy (PT) into a rural health care team: in-person PT assessment, where the PT travels from an urban center interprofessional Telehealth assessment where the local NP is joined by a PT via Telehealth. The project will evaluate health, systems and process outcomes, comparative effectiveness and costs of the three methods of assessment. The hypothesis is that an interprofessional Telehealth assessment with be as effective as an in-person PT assessment, but more effective than usual care.

The purpose of this study is to determine whether shockwave therapy is more effective in the treatment of unspecific acute low back pain than sham therapy. 60 patients with acute low back pain will be recruited to a single-blinded, randomized, placebo-controlled trial. They are randomized to receive either shockwave therapy or sham treatment by a identically looking device for 4 weeks, twice a week. Additionally patients receive physiotherapy twice a week and are allowed to take an anti-inflammatory drug, if necessary for even 4 weeks. The primary outcome variable will be measured at day 0, every week during treatment (day 7; 14; 21 and 28) and up to 4 weeks after the last treatment. The clinical outcome will be primarily measured by pain intensity using a visual analogue scale. Secondary outcome measures are Oswestry Disability Index, Beck's Pain Depression Scale, Roland Morris Disability Questionnaire and the EQ-5D. Data will be analysed for the difference in change of scores between groups using one-way t-test.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the efficacy of treatment of radial shockwave in myofascial pain syndrome in the lumbar region compared to placebo through questionnaires and imaging exams.

There will be two groups of patients with low back pain (by randomization). Both groups will receive a pragmatic treatment approach by physical therapists for low back pain. One group will also receive a prescriptive treatment approach for both hips. The investigators feel that the additional of a standardized exercise program and stretching for the hips will improve outcomes in patients with mechanical low back pain.

In this study we want to evaluate the clinical use of allogenic mesenchymal stem cells (MSC), obtained from bone marrow of healthy donors, for treatment of Degenerative Disc Disease (DDD). The trial is based in previous results with autologous MSC (Orozco et al., Transplantation 92: 822-828; 2011). Here we propose a phase I-II trial, prospective, randomized, blinded, and controlled for the treatment DDD using MSV, a Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP)-compliant expanded bone marrow MSC (MSV, PEI Num. 10-134). The assay consists of two arms with 12 patients each one. Patients in the experimental arm will be given a single intra-discal transplantation of MSV (25 millions in 2 ml). Control patients will be infiltrated in the paravertebral muscles close to the lesion with 2 ml of 1% mepivacain. We shall follow the evolution of pain, disability and quality of life as well as disc fluid content by Magnetic Resonance Imaging (T2-calibrated).