An interventional study of Yoga and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) in Chronic Pain and Musculoskeletal Pain, sponsored by Palo Alto Veterans Institute for Research. Recruiting at 1 site in United States. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-01-29.
Sponsored by Palo Alto Veterans Institute for Research · Not applicable, Interventional, and Treatment
This study will compare online yoga with Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), an established treatment for chronic pain. We will compare the efficacy of the two treatments for reducing chronic musculoskeletal pain in veterans.
This study will test if online yoga is not inferior than ACT for treating chronic pain in veterans. Participants will be randomly assigned to receive either online yoga instruction or ACT, once a week for 12 weeks in an online group class. They will complete self-report questionnaires about their experience of chronic pain. There will be a 6-month follow up period, during which the research team will check in with the participant to record any adverse events and maintain study contact.
3,227 studies on the registry are indexed under Chronic Pain; 729 are open to participants now.
This study's planned enrollment of 274 is above the median of 60 across 2,388 interventional studies indexed under Chronic Pain.
Browse Chronic Pain studies →Palo Alto Veterans Institute for Research is the lead sponsor of 53 studies on the registry; 10 are open to participants now.
Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.
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:
Postures, meditation, breathing exercises
Behavioral: Yoga
Behavioral medicine
Behavioral: Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
A 12-week online yoga course designed to treat pain.
A 12-week behavioral therapy course designed to treat pain.
Pain Interference (Brief Pain Inventory-Short Form)
The degree to which pain impacts mood, walking and other daily activities, as measured by the Pain Interference Scale of the Brief Pain Inventory - Short Form (BPI-SF). The BPI-SF assesses intensity and impact of pain on functioning on a 0-10 rating scale, with higher scores indicating greater degree of interference.
Time frame: Baseline, End-of-treatment at 12 weeks, and 6 months after treatment
Depression (BDI-II)
Symptoms of depression as measured by the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II). The BDI-II is comprised of 21 self-report questions, scored on a 0-3 scale, with higher scores indicating more depressive symptoms.
Time frame: Baseline, End-of-treatment at 12 weeks, and 6 months after treatment
Sleep (Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index)
Sleep quality as measured by the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). The PSQI is a a self-rated questionnaire that assesses sleep quality and disturbances over a 1-month interval.
Time frame: Baseline, End-of-treatment at 12 weeks, and 6 months after treatment
Plan to share: Yes — All demographic, clinical observations, and clinical self-reports
Supporting information: Study protocol, Statistical analysis plan, Informed consent form
Time frame: IPD and supporting information will be available at the end of the funding period. The duration of preservation and sharing of the data will be a minimum of 10 years after the funding period.
Access criteria: Data and source materials will be posted on DRYAD, an open-source tool for data publication and digital preservation. DRYAD provides searchable study-level metadata for dataset discovery. Data will be indexed by Google Dataset Search and other tools to enhance discoverability and will be discoverable online through standard web search of the study-level metadata as well as the persistent pointer from the DOI to the dataset.
No publications or documents are linked to this record.
Started Jan 2026 (actual). Primary completion is estimated for Nov 2029, 45 months after the start.
Of 1,295 non-industry interventional studies with no phase under Chronic Pain, half reached primary completion within 20 months of starting (the median), counting those still running; a quarter within 9 and three quarters within 39. This study's planned 45 months is above that.
Counting every sponsor, half of 1,378 studies reached it within 20 months; a quarter within 9 and three quarters within 38.
How these figures are worked out, and which studies are left out of them.
Eligibility is decided by the study team. Share this record with your doctor or contact the team directly.
Contact study teamGet an email when the registry record changes — status, dates, results — or when someone posts here.
Sign in to followQuestions and observations about this study, from anyone following it. Not medical advice, and not a channel to the study team — their contact details are on the registry record.
Sign in to join the discussion. Reading takes no account; posting does. You choose a display name, and a pseudonym is the default.
Nothing here yet. If you are running this trial, taking part in it, or weighing whether to, this is the place to say so.
Palo Alto Veterans Institute for Research