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CompletedNCT03905577Updated Jul 9, 2019

Effects of Motor Imagery and Action Observation Training on Pain Perception in Patients With Chronic Neck Pain

An interventional study of Action Observation and Motor imagery in Pain, Chronic, sponsored by Universidad Autonoma de Madrid. Completed at 1 site in Spain. Open to participants aged 18 Years to 65 Years. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2019-07-09.

Sponsored by Universidad Autonoma de Madrid · Not applicable, Interventional, and Treatment

Phase
Not applicable
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
30
Allocation
Randomized
Ages
18 Years to 65 Years
Sex
All
01

Study summary

This study evaluates the influence of motor imagery or action observation training on pain perception in patients with chronic neck pain. Perception of pain will be measured by the pain pressure threshold.

A group of patients will receive an action observation training of neck movements, another will receive a protocol of motor imagery of the same movements and the last group will be a placebo group, through the viewing of a documentary video.

Read the detailed description

Motor imagery is defined as a dynamic mental process of an action, without its real motor execution. Action observation training consists of watching an action performed by someone else. Both motor imagery and action observation have been shown to produce a neurophysiological activation of the brain areas related to the planning and execution of voluntary movement in a manner that resembles how the action is performed in reality.

Both motor imagery and action observation are interventions that can generate adaptive neuroplastic changes on a cortical level, leading to a decrease in chronic pain. These rehabilitation techniques are used in pain treatment and impaired movement injuries that could be due to a nervous system alteration.

The effectiveness of motor imagery is controversial; several studies have presented unfavorable outcomes from this technique. Some variables, such as the duration of the sessions, the time employed the type of motor task or the number of sessions can influence the outcomes of these studies. Thus, it is necessary to clarify the controversial aspects of motor imagery, which lead us to perform this study.

02

Conditions studied

  • Pain, Chronic

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Keywords

  • Motor Imagery
  • Action observation
  • Pain perception
03

In context

Chronic Pain

2,999 studies on the registry are indexed under Chronic Pain; 706 are open to participants now.

This study's enrollment of 30 is below the median of 60 across 2,209 interventional studies indexed under Chronic Pain.

Browse Chronic Pain studies →

Lead sponsor

Universidad Autonoma de Madrid is the lead sponsor of 51 studies on the registry; 7 are open to participants now.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
18 Years to 65 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

  • Men and women aged between 18 and 65 years
  • Medical diagnosis of non specific chronic neck pain with more than 6 months of evolution of neck pain

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Patients with rheumatic diseases, cervical hernia, cervical whiplash syndrome, neck surgeries o a history of arthrodesis
  • Systemic diseases
  • Vision, hearing or vestibular problems
  • Severe trauma or a traffic accident that had an impact on the cervical area.
05

Study design

Phase
Not applicable
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention model
Parallel assignment
Masking
Double (Participant, Investigator)
Enrollment
30 participants (actual)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    Action Observation

    This group receives an action observation training through the visualization of a video of cervical movements.

    Behavioral: Action Observation

  • Experimental
    Motor Imagery

    This group receives an motor imagery through the imagery process of cervical movements.

    Behavioral: Motor imagery

  • Placebo comparator
    Placebo Group

    This group receives a placebo action observation training through the visualization of a video of a documentary video

    Behavioral: Placebo Action observation

Interventions

  • BehavioralAction Observation

    Action Observation training

  • BehavioralMotor imagery

    Motor imagery protocol

  • BehavioralPlacebo Action observation

    Placebo Action Observation

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Pain pressure threshold

    Pressure Pain Threshold (PPT) is one of these tests and it is defined as the minimum force applied which induces pain. The measurement shall be carried out by using an algometer (pressure device that induces mechanical stimuli) is to standardize the amount of pressure applied in the neck region. The reliability of pressure pain thresholds according to raters or measurement frequencies is relatively high

    Time frame: Change from baseline and immediately post-intervention.

Secondary outcomes

  1. Visual and Kinesthetic Motor Imagery Ability

    Visual and Kinesthetic Motor Imagery Ability will be measured with Movement Imagery Questionnaire-Revised (MIQ-R). MIQ-R has four movements repeated in two subscales, a visual and a kinesthetic one. Additionally, a score between 1 and 7 is assigned, with 1 representing difficulty in picturing the motor image or difficulty in feeling the movement previously made, and 7 representing the maximum ease. The internal consistencies of the MIQ-R have been consistently adequate with Cronbach's α coefficients ranging above 0.84 for the total scale, 0.80 for de visual subscale and 0.84 for the kinesthetic subscale (Campos \& González, 2010).

    Time frame: Immediately before the intervention

  2. Mental Chronometry

    Mental chronometry evaluation was also used to measure the subject's motor imagery

    Time frame: Immediately before the intervention

  3. The degree of physical activity

    The degree of physical activity was objectified through the The International Physical Activity Questionnaire questionnaire, which allows the subjects to be divided into three groups according to their level of activity, which can be high, moderate, and low or inactive

    Time frame: Immediately before the intervention

  4. Laterality task

    With the task of recognition of the neck's laterality, two aspects will be evaluated: first, the precision (percentage of correct answers) of the discrimination of the laterality which is the capacity to recognize if a part of the body belongs to the right or left and second, the response time that the participants use in the task of discrimination or cognitive judgment. The app designed and developed by the NOI group will be used.

    Time frame: Immediately before the intervention

  5. Pain catastrophizing

    The Spanish version of the pain catastrophizing scale (PCS) assesses the degree of pain catastrophizing. The PCS has 13 items and a 3-factor structure of rumination, magnification, and helplessness.

    Time frame: Immediately before the intervention

  6. Kinesiophobia

    Fear of movement or kinesiophobia will be quantified with the Spanish version of the Kinesiophobia Tampa Scale (TSK-11). This instrument demonstrates reliability and validity in patients with chronic pain, being shorter than the original scale. The total score ranges from 11 to 44 points, with the highest scores indicating greater fear of a new injury due to movement

    Time frame: Immediately before the intervention

07

Study locations

1 site
  • CSEU La Salle
    Madrid, 28023, Spain
08

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 Apr 2019 to primary completion in Jun 2019, 2 months.

Of 1,209 non-industry interventional studies with no phase under Chronic Pain, half reached primary completion within 21 months of starting (the median), counting those still running; a quarter within 9 and three quarters within 39. This study's 2 months is below that.

Counting every sponsor, half of 1,296 studies reached it within 21 months; a quarter within 9 and three quarters within 39.

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

Registered
Apr 2, 2019
First posted
Apr 5, 2019
StartActual
Apr 15, 2019
Primary completionActual
Jun 30, 2019
CompletionActual
Jun 30, 2019
Last update
Jul 9, 2019
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 Jul 9, 2019, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
09

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT03905577
Lead sponsor
Universidad Autonoma de Madrid
Responsible party
Roy La Touche Arbizu (Principal Investigator, Universidad Autonoma de Madrid) — Principal investigator
First posted
Apr 5, 2019
Start date
Apr 15, 2019
Primary completion
Jun 30, 2019
Completion
Jun 30, 2019
Last update
Jul 9, 2019

Oversight

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 Jul 2019. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.

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