Effects of Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation on Pain Thresholds in Patients With Chronic Low Back Pain
CompletedNot applicableNCT03973788
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This study has no listed site in Canada in this snapshot. It is included as part of the worldwide chronic pain corpus.
Brief summary (from the registry)
Chronic low back pain (CLBP) is a common reason for which patients are treated with opioids. Because the misuse of prescription opioids has become a serious problem in the Uinted States, finding effective alternative non-pharmaceutical interventions for chronic pain management has become an urgent matter. A phenomenon termed central sensitization (i.e. mal-adaption of the brain) has been hypothesized to be an underlying mechanism for the development of chronic pain, leading to sensory hypersensitivity to extremal stimuli. Therefore, non-invasive brain stimulation, such as repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) may be an effective intervention to regulate brain excitability, thus reducing chronic pain. However, research has shown inconclusive evidence regarding the rTMS effects on chronic pain reduction, partly due to the heterogeneity of participants in studies to date. Therefore, the primary purpose of this study is to investigate the immediate and short-term effects of rTMS on neurosensory changes (i.e., pain thresholds) in patients with CLBP. The secondary purpuse of the study is to explore the relationship between changes of cortical excitability (TMS parameters) and changes of pain thresholds after the rTMS intervention in patients with CLBP.
Study details
- Official title
- Immediate and Short-term Effects of Single-session Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation on Pain Thresholds In Patients With Chronic Low Back Pain - A Pilot Study
- Conditions
- Interventions
- Procedure: repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS)
- Sponsor
- Texas Woman's University
- Start date
- 2019-07-01
- Primary completion
- 2021-01-31
- Sex
- All
- Age range
- from 18 Years
- Healthy volunteers
- true
- Results posted
- No results posted in this snapshot
- Countries
- United States
- Total sites listed
- 1
Eligibility criteria
Show eligibility criteria (verbatim from the registry)
Inclusion Criteria: * Adults 18 years of age or older * Have LBP for more than 6 months Exclusion Criteria: * Previous low back surgery, systemic joint disease (e.g. rheumatoid arthritis), * Fracture, * Infection * Tumor or cancer * Cauda equina syndrome * neurological disorders * Neuropathy * Raynaud's Disease * pregnancy, * Inability to maintain the testing and treatment positions (i.e. sitting, supine hook-lying and prone-lying) for 15 minutes at a time. * History of significant head trauma, * Electrical, magnetic, or mechanical implantation (e.g. cardiac pacemakers or intracerebral vascular clip) * Metal implantation in the head and neck areas * History of seizures or unexplained loss of consciousness, * Immediate family member with epilepsy * Use of seizure threshold lowering medicine * Current abuse of alcohol or drugs * History of psychiatric illness requiring medication controls
Source: ClinicalTrials.gov (US National Library of Medicine), snapshot October 2026. Check the registry for current recruiting status. Record: https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT03973788