An interventional study of PPT measurement and Pain catastrophizing scale in Catastrophizing Pain, Pain, Somatic and Chronic Low Back Pain, sponsored by Aalborg University. Completed at 1 site in Denmark. Open to participants aged 18 Years to 60 Years, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2018-12-24.
Sponsored by Aalborg University · Not applicable, Interventional, and Diagnostic
This study evaluates the potential association between pain catastrophizing thoughts and the ability to dampen pain via endogenous descending inhibition. Half of the participants are persons with chronic low back pain and the other half are age and gender-matched controls
Pain catastrophizing is a cognitive feature commonly seen in various musculoskeletal pain population and is considered an important factor to account for in rehabilitation. The ability to dampen pain via endogenous pain modulatory mechanisms is likewise known to be reduced in musculoskeletal pain conditions.
Studies utilizing functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) have demonstrated that the supraspinal areas involved in pain-related cognitive processing to a great extent overlap with those involved in endogenous pain modulation. Therefore, it is plausible that factors such as pain catastrophizing thoughts may affect the nervous systems ability to dampen pain.
Chronic low back pain is the single clinical problem with the biggest impact in the modern society. Previous studies have demonstrated that pain catastrophizing and reduced endogenous pain inhibition are part of the clinical picture. However, previous studies have never investigated a potential relationship between these two factors.
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This study's enrollment of 44 is below the median of 60 across 1,941 interventional studies indexed under Back Pain.
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Low back pain group:
Controls:
No current or previous history of musculoskeletal pain of ongoing nature
Exclusion Criteria:
Applies for both groups:
Individuals with chronic low back pain. Baseline assessment of pain intensity, function, pain duration and pain catastrophizing thoughts is performed Pain sensitivity at the back and lower leg is measured at baseline and immediately after performing the cold pressor test
Diagnostic Test: PPT measurement · Diagnostic Test: Pain catastrophizing scale · Procedure: Cold Pressor Test
Healthy, pain-free individuals who are age and gender matched to the low back pain group fill out the pain catastrophizing scale Pain sensitivity at the back and lower leg is measured at baseline and immediately after performing the cold pressor test
Diagnostic Test: PPT measurement · Diagnostic Test: Pain catastrophizing scale · Procedure: Cold Pressor Test
The sensitivity to pressure which is gradually increased is assessed. The procedure is performed at the back and the lower leg
Also known as: Assessment of pain sensitivity
A validated questionnaire that measures three domains of pain-related catastrophizing thoughts: helplessness, rumination and excessive magnification
The participant submerges one hand into a tank of cold (5 deg C), circulating water. The procedure is commonly know to decrease the sensitivity to pressure (PPT procedure) so that a difference appears in pain sensitivity when comparing PPT values before and after the procedure
Association between levels of pain catastrophizing thoughts and endogenous pain inhibition
The pain catastrophizing scale score is correlated with the changes in Pressure Pain Thresholds before and after the cold pressor test See descriptions of each assessment method below (outcome 2 and outcome 3, respectively)
Time frame: One session (45 min)
Changes in pressure pain thresholds (determined with pressure algometry) before and after the cold pressor test
Pressure Pain Thresholds (PPT) are assessed before and after the cold pressor test PPT measure the pressure needed to experience the first instance of pain. For this purpose, a pressure algometer (a pistol-like device with a 1cm2 contact surface) is used. Higher levels of pressure reflect lower pain sensitivity. In the cold pressor test, the subject is asked to submerge one hand into circulating water (constant temperature: 4 degrees C) for 2 minutes. When removing it from the water, the subject is asked to indicate the perceived pain using a numeric rating scale (see below). Before and after the cold pressor test, the PPT measurements are performed. The difference in PPT values before and after the cold pressor test is used in the correlation analysis described in outcome 1. The numeric rating scale is used to determine the perceived pain intensity from the cold water. The scale is runs from 0 - 10 where 0 is anchored with no pain and 10 reflects the worst pain imaginable
Time frame: 30 minutes
Catastrophizing thoughts measured with the Pain Catastrophizing Scale
The pain catastrophizing score by filling out the pain catastrophizing scale.The pain catastrophizing scale consists of 13 sentences describing pain-related thoughts or feelings. These are divided into 3 domains: rumination, magnification and helplessness. The subject is asked to indicate how how well each sentence applies for them: 0 = not at all, 1 = to a slight degree, 2 = to a moderate degree, 3 = to a great degree and 4 = all the time. The total score on the questionnaire can lie between 0 - 52 where a higher score indicates higher levels of pain catastrophizing thoughts.
Time frame: 15 minutes
Plan to share: No — There are currently no plans on sharing data from this study with other researchers
This study is completed, as verified in Dec 2018. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.
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Aalborg University