Lower Back Biomechanics in Veterans With Non-Specific Low Back Pain

Brief summary (from the registry)

Low back pain (LBP) is strongly associated with opioid consumption among Veterans, and improved clinical management of LBP is likely to reduce reliance on opioid among Veterans. Up to 60% of patients with an acute episode of nonspecific LBP experience either symptom persistence or symptom relapse within one year. This is likely an indication of a failure in addressing the underlying mechanisms of pain or initiation of a new etiology; both may stem from a mismatch between patients and treatments. The overall goal of this research is to develop, validate and implement measures that are relevant to known mechanisms of LBP, which can then be used to holistically gauge the health status of patients' lower backs beyond self-reporting of symptoms. More accurate measurements will help better match of patients with existing treatments or development of more effective new treatments. The specific objective of this study is to generate evidence in support of the feasibility of the investigators' methods for 1) the evaluation of relative contribution of lower back tissues to spinal loads, and 2) the investigation of the resultant spinal loads in Veterans with non-specific LBP. The investigators have developed a powerful set of tools for the comprehensive assessment of spinal loads and lower back mechanical behavior (MB), that will enable the investigators to examine the existence or development of abnormalities in spinal loads and lower back MB in three groups of Veterans with different experiences with non-specific LBP. These groups will include 1) Veterans with chronic, non-specific LBP and high level of disability (n=18), 2) Veterans with chronic, non-specific LBP and low level of disability (n=18), 3) asymptomatic Veterans without a recent history of non-specific LBP (n=18; serving as control group). Successful completion of this feasibility project will pave the way for future studies (merit grant applications) that will verify the role of abnormalities in lower back MB an…

Study details

Official title

The Assessment of Lower Back Mechanical Behavior and Spinal Loads in Veterans With Non-specific Low Back Pain: a Feasibility Study

Conditions

• Chronic Low Back Pain

Sponsor

VA Office of Research and Development

Collaborators

University of Kentucky

Start date

2021-01-15

Primary completion

2022-12-13

Sex

All

Age range

from 21 Years to 70 Years

Healthy volunteers

true

Results posted

No results posted in this snapshot

Countries

United States

Total sites listed

1

Eligibility criteria