ClinicalTrials.gg
CompletedNCT03324659MedExTUpdated Apr 5, 2021

Meditation and Exercise to Treat Chronic Back Pain

An interventional study of Exercise and Meditation and Control in Chronic Low Back Pain, sponsored by Duquesne University. Completed at 1 site in United States. Open to participants aged 18 Years to 60 Years. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2021-04-05.

Primary conditionBack PainRegistry: Motor ActivityReclassifiedWhy we changed it
Registry
Motor Activity — the first condition term the registry derived for this study.
ClinicalTrials.gg
Back Pain
Why
  1. Motor Activity is a broad heading, used only when no more specific condition is named.
  2. The study's listed conditions name Back Pain.
Confidence
High: the new condition is named in the study's own listed conditions. Of 351 hand-checked studies reclassified this way, 68% were exactly right and 84% in the right disease family; the registry's first term was right for 5% (measured 2026-10-21). How we classify →
Wrong?
Tell us the study's main condition →

Sponsored by Duquesne University · Not applicable, Interventional, and Treatment

Phase
Not applicable
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
42
Allocation
Randomized
Ages
18 Years to 60 Years
Sex
All
01

Where this study stands

Counted across the records on this site · 2026-11-12

Among 307 studies in Back Pain with a site in United States — 38 open to participants now, 51 under way, 4 of them phase 3. Back Pain · United States.

Enrollment
173rd of 262
42 · median 76
Started
2018
with 19 others
No phase
163 of 307
17 open now
Registered
156th of 307
by date

Among the 307 studies in Back Pain with a site in United States, this one is the 173rd largest by enrollment of the 262 interventional ones that give a count, is one of 20 that started in 2018, is one of 163 with no phase, and was the 156th registered.

Back Pain

728 studies on the registry are indexed under Back Pain; 109 are open to participants now.

Browse Back Pain studies →

Open to participants now

38 of the 307 studies in Back Pain with a site in United States are open now. Recruiting first, the newest first:

33 more — sign in →

All 38 open studies →

A study can be open while its sites in United States have not opened yet or have stopped. Only those recruiting at a site in United States →

Who these studies take

Of the 68 Back Pain studies recruiting now, 29 (43%) set no upper age limit and 32 (47%) stop at 75 or younger; 3 take children under 18; 11 take healthy volunteers.

This study: 18 Years to 60 Years · all sexes · no healthy volunteers.

The full table on the hub →

This tab as a report to print or save as PDF → With an account.

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Watch this landscapeDownload CSVNarrow it in search →With an account: a weekly mail of what changed among 307 studies in Back Pain with a site in United States, or all of them as a file.
02

Study summary

This study evaluates the analgesic effect of a combination treatment of exercise and mindfulness based meditation in patients with chronic back pain. Half of the participants will partake in a 4-week exercise and meditation intervention, while the other half will receive a placebo treatment. The investigators hypothesize that a combination treatment reduces disability and pain more than the control intervention.

Read the detailed description

Exercise and mindfulness based mediation can both produce analgesic effects in patients with chronic pain, but the mechanisms are not clear.

Combining treatments could produce analgesic effects that are additive, synergistic, or counteractive to each other. Here, the investigators examine the effects of a 4-week intervention in patients with chronic low back pain. Patients are assigned to a meditation/exercise group or a control group. The investigators will measure pain and disability using a variety of tools including surveys (disability, anxiety, mindfulness, and pain), pain VAS scales, and quantitative sensory testing.

03

Conditions studied

  • Chronic Low Back Pain

Browse trials for

Keywords

  • Mindfulness
  • Exercise
  • Meditation
  • Back pain
04

In context

Back Pain Reclassified

728 studies on the registry are indexed under Back Pain; 109 are open to participants now.

This study's enrollment of 42 is below the median of 70 across 593 interventional studies indexed under Back Pain.

Browse Back Pain studies →

Lead sponsor

Duquesne University is the lead sponsor of 27 studies on the registry; 2 are open to participants now.

Compared within Back Pain, this study's primary condition as ClinicalTrials.gg classifies it; the registry's first condition term is Motor Activity. The counts are of registry records indexed under each term, refreshed daily. How we classify →

05

Who can participate

Ages eligible
18 Years to 60 Years
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
No

Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.

Inclusion criteria

  1. Presence of clinically diagnosed nonspecific low back pain for at least 6 months
  2. within the normal to overweight range (18.5-29.9)
  3. Resting heart rate 60 to 100 beats per minute
  4. Resting blood pressure less than or equal to 140/90
  5. Able to independently ambulate community distances without external support (e.g., walker, cane)

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  1. Age less than 18 or greater than 60 years
  2. ≥ 30 or ≤ 18.4
  3. Cardiovascular or respiratory disease
  4. Neurological disease, unrelated to low back pain
  5. Radicular low back pain
  6. Back pain associated with neuropathy
  7. Diabetes mellitus, Types 1 and 2
  8. Diagnosed with a chronic pain condition, unrelated to low back pain
  9. Acute pain
  10. Regular participation in high intensity athletic/sporting activities
  11. Sedentary lifestyle
  12. Currently pregnant
  13. Current cigarette smoker
  14. On-going litigation associated with back pain
  15. Inability to walk independently without external support (e.g. walker).
  16. Regular participation in meditation techniques or training in Mindfulness-based stress reduction
Terms in these criteria, in plain language(1)

Underlined terms in the criteria open these too. Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.

BMI (body mass index)

Weight in kilograms divided by height in metres squared. Example: 70 kg and 1.75 m gives 70 ÷ (1.75 × 1.75) ≈ 22.9.

What counts as overweight or obesity differs between countries (some use lower cut-offs), so go by the range the study states.

06

Study design

Phase
Not applicable
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention model
Parallel assignment
Masking
Single (Outcomes assessor)
Enrollment
42 participants (actual)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    Exercise and Meditation

    The Exercise and Meditation group will practice mindfulness meditation immediately before walking treadmill exercise, five days per week for four weeks.

    Behavioral: Exercise and Meditation

  • Sham comparator
    Control

    The Control group will listen to an audio book followed by quiet rest, five days per week for four weeks.

    Behavioral: Control

Interventions

  • BehavioralExercise and Meditation

    The Exercise and Meditation group will listen to recorded meditations (15 minutes) that are based on mindfulness. They will then walk on a treadmill for 30 minutes at a moderate intensity. The intervention is completed five days per week for four weeks.

  • BehavioralControl

    The Control group will listen to a recorded audio book for 15 minutes, They will then sit quietly for 30 minutes. The intervention is completed five days per week for four weeks.

07

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Change in Roland Morris Disability Questionnaire

    The Roland-Morris Disability Questionnaire is designed to assess self-rated physical disability caused by low back pain. The patient is asked to tick a statement when it applies to him that specific day, this makes it possible to follow changes in time. The end score is the sum of the ticked boxes. The score ranges from 0 (no disability) to 24 (max. disability).

    Time frame: baseline and 4 weeks

Secondary outcomes

  1. Change in Cutaneous Sensation

    Subjects will be examined using cutaneous sensory filaments on the forearm with data recorded in grams.

    Time frame: baseline and 4 weeks

  2. Fear Avoidance Beliefs Questionnaire

    The Fear-Avoidance Beliefs Questionnaire (FABQ) is a questionnaire based on the Fear-Avoidance Model of Exaggerated Pain Perception, a model created in attempts to explain why some patients with acute painful conditions can recover while other patients develop chronic pain from such conditions. The FABQ measures patients' fear of pain and consequent avoidance of physical activity because of their fear. This questionnaire consists of 16 items, with each item scored from 0-6. Higher scores on the FABQ are indicative of greater fear and avoidance beliefs

    Time frame: baseline and 4 weeks

  3. Freiburg Mindfulness Inventory

    The FMI is a 14-item questionnaire for measuring mindfulness. It is most suitable in generalized contexts, where knowledge of the Buddhist background of mindfulness cannot be expected. The 14 items cover all aspects of mindfulness. The purpose is to characterize the experience of mindfulness. The subject is asked to answer every statement as honestly and spontaneously as possible. Each statement is scored on a 1 to 4 scale and a composite score is calculated from all statements.

    Time frame: baseline and 4 weeks

  4. VAS back pain (intensity & unpleasantness)

    Participants will be asked to rate their current level of back pain intensity on a Visual Analog Scale (VAS) ranging from 0 to 10

    Time frame: baseline, daily (pre and post intervention), and 4 weeks

  5. State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI)

    The STAI is an introspective psychological inventory consisting of 40 self-report items pertaining to anxiety affect. It distinguishes between a person's state and trait anxiety levels. The A-Trait and A-State scales comprise 20 items each, scored on a 4-point Likert-type response scale. Higher STAI scores suggest higher levels of anxiety.

    Time frame: baseline and 4 weeks

  6. Change in Pressure Sensation

    Subjects will be examined using a pressure algometer to determine a pressure pain threshold, measured in Newtons

    Time frame: baseline and 4 weeks

  7. Change in Heat unpleasantness

    Subjects will be examined using a heat block with a determined temperature threshold. Subjects will report unpleasantness using a VAS scale.

    Time frame: baseline and 4 weeks

08

Study locations

1 site
  • Duquesne University
    Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15282, United States
09

References and documents

Study documents

PDFs hosted by the registry, ClinicalTrials.gov.

Individual participant data

Plan to share: Undecided

10

Timeline

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
ElapsedEstimatedEstimated, not yet reachedSimilar studies: half by the dot; the band is the middle halfHalf of similar studies reached it by the dot; the band is the middle half, from a quarter to three quarters

Ran from Jan 2018 to primary completion in Mar 2019, 14 months.

Of 259 non-industry interventional studies with no phase under Back Pain, half reached primary completion within 12 months of starting (the median), counting those still running; a quarter within 5 and three quarters within 33. This study's 14 months is above that.

Counting every sponsor, half of 294 studies reached it within 13 months; a quarter within 5 and three quarters within 34.

How these figures are worked out, and which studies are left out of them.

Registered
Oct 17, 2017
First posted
Oct 30, 2017
StartActual
Jan 26, 2018
Primary completionActual
Mar 31, 2019
CompletionActual
Jun 30, 2019
Last update
Apr 5, 2021
What these dates mean
Start.
When the first participant enrolled; while estimated, when the study expects to open to recruitment.
Primary completion.
When the last participant was examined or treated to collect data for the study's main question, its primary outcome. A study that stopped early gives the date its data collection stopped.
Completion.
When the last participant's last visit took place, for every outcome, secondary ones and side effects included: the end of the study. Often later than primary completion, sometimes the same day.
Actual and Est.
Actual means the registry says the date has happened. Est. (estimated) is a date the sponsor plans or expects. It can still move, and the sponsor is expected to change it to actual once it has passed.
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Apr 5, 2021, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
11

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT03324659
Lead sponsor
Duquesne University
Responsible party
Matthew Kostek (Assistant Professor, Duquesne University) — Principal investigator
First posted
Oct 30, 2017
Start date
Jan 26, 2018
Primary completion
Mar 31, 2019
Completion
Jun 30, 2019
Last update
Apr 5, 2021

Study contacts

Matthew C. Kostek, PhD
principal investigator · Duquesne University
Benedict J Kolber, PhD
principal investigator · Duquesne University
Eric Helm, MD
principal investigator · University of Pittsburgh

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
No
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

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This study is completed, as verified in Apr 2021. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.

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