An interventional study of Occupational Therapy and Occupational Therapy +Virtual Reality in Chronic Pain, sponsored by University of Pittsburgh. Completed at 1 site in United States. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2025-02-11.
Sponsored by University of Pittsburgh · Not applicable, Interventional, and Treatment
This study will determine if occupational therapy or the combination of occupational therapy and virtual reality is the better treatment for chronic low back pain (CLBP)patients.
Chronic musculoskeletal pain is defined as persistent or recurrent pain lasting more than 3 months. Chronic pain is a complex and disabling physiological and psychosocial disorder that does not provide an adaptive or protective purpose. In chronic pain, the precipitating event (e.g., fracture, sprain, trauma) is healed, and yet excessive pain remains. In Immersive Virtual Reality (IVR) people experience a three-dimensional, computer-generated environment via a computer headset. IVR has been used to treat acute pain, but there have been few focused studies on the effects of IVR on chronic pain. When people with chronic pain are in IVR, they become unaware of their body and tend to move normally. We would like to test to see if IVR has a lasting effect in this study. Thus, IVR has strong potential as an additional tool in an arsenal of treatments for chronic pain. This study will examine if IVR can reduce pain and other symptoms in people with chronic pain.
2,998 studies on the registry are indexed under Chronic Pain; 706 are open to participants now.
This study's enrollment of 32 is below the median of 60 across 2,209 interventional studies indexed under Chronic Pain.
Browse Chronic Pain studies →University of Pittsburgh is the lead sponsor of 1,414 studies on the registry; 168 are open to participants now.
Of its 8 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 4 (50%) have results posted.
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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.
Exclusion Criteria:
Subjects in this treatment group will receive outpatient occupational therapy geared towards people with chronic pain conditions. After obtaining consent, an occupational therapist will meet with the participant to begin their occupational therapy sessions targeted for those who have chronic pain. Additionally, subjects will complete online surveys administered by the therapist before and after each therapy session. There is a total of six 1-hour visits during the 3-month study duration involving occupational therapy. They will also receive online surveys every two weeks and will be asked to complete them at home.
Other: Occupational Therapy
Subjects in this treatment group will receive outpatient occupational therapy intervention geared towards people with chronic pain conditions followed by active, immersive virtual reality sessions. Participants in this treatment group will have 10-30minutes of usual care while receiving 10-30 minutes of virtual reality (e.g. exercises, games, and activities in the virtual world) during each study visit. Subjects will complete online surveys before and after each virtual reality session, along with debriefing from a therapist after each VR session to review what happened and why. Debriefing will include questions to obtain thoughts and narrative information about the participant's experience, as well as overall take-aways from the session. The therapist and subject will also watch a video recording of the subject's VR experience as a method to provide them feedback on their performance. Subjects will receive online surveys every two weeks and will be asked to complete them at home.
Other: Occupational Therapy +Virtual Reality
Occupational therapy helps individuals with chronic pain to participate in daily activities in an adaptive way. The subjects will be provided with customized plans and objectives to address their self-care, vocational, and leisure goals. This includes education, home exercises, stress management, home safety, energy conservation, and work simplification - all of which promote a safe return to daily activities.
Also known as: OT
The occupational therapy +VR utilizes the regular therapy sessions along with providing a Virtual reality headset to relieve pain. After each VR session, there will be a debriefing from the therapist.
Also known as: OT+VR
Changes from Baseline in average rating of chronic pain at 3 months using Numeric Pain Rating Scale
Numeric Pain Rating questionnaire will assess how much a person hurts with a question ranked on a 11-point scale, from "0 = no pain" to "10 = worst pain imaginable." The minimum raw summed score is 0 and the maximum score is 10. Lower raw response scores suggest lower pain intensity and better outcomes.
Time frame: Baseline vs 3 months
Change from Baseline self-efficacy using Pain Self Efficacy Questionnaire (PSEQ).
Change from Baseline Pain Self Efficacy at 3 months using Pain Self Efficacy Questionnaire (PSEQ). The questionnaire will assess how confident a person feels despite the pain with 10 questions ranked on a 7-point scale, from "0 = not at all confident" to "6 = Completely confident".
Time frame: Baseline vs 3 months
Change from Baseline fear of movement using the Tampa Scale of Kinesiophobia (TSK).
The Tampa Scale of Kinesiophobia (TSK) questionnaire will assess fear of movement with 17 questions ranked on a 1-4 scale, from "1 = Strongly disagree" to the "4 = Strongly agree." Lower scores suggest lower fear of movement.
Time frame: Baseline vs 3 months
Change from Baseline Pain Intensity at 3 months using PROMIS-29
The PROMIS Numeric Rating Scale v2.0 questionnaire will assess how much a person hurts with a question ranked on a 11-point scale, from "0 = no pain" to "10 = worst imaginable pain." The minimum raw summed score is 0 and the maximum score is 10. Lower raw response scores suggest lower pain intensity and better outcomes.
Time frame: Baseline vs 3 months
Change from Baseline participation and scaling at 3 months using Goal Attainment Scale (GAS)
The Goal Attainment Scale will assess the response to participation based on a 5 point scale ranging from "+2 = MUCH more than expected" to "-2 = MUCH less than expected".HIgher scores suggest higher response to participation.
Time frame: Baseline vs 3 months
Plan to share: No
No publications or documents are linked to this record.
Ran from Apr 2022 to primary completion in Sep 2023, 16 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 16 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.
This study is completed, as verified in Feb 2025. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.
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