Structural White and Gray Matter Correlates of Impaired Muscle Control and Deficient Pain Processing
CompletedNCT06143319
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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)
Although the cause of persistent non-specific low back pain (LBP) remains unknown, structural and functional alterations of the brain, alterations in the lumbar muscles and dysfunction of the central nervous system have been proposed as underlying mechanisms. In this case-control study, 1) brain structure/function, 2) lumbar muscle function and 3) central pain processing are compared across four groups: 1) healthy participants, 2) recurrent LBP (both during pain flare and during pain remission), 3) chronic LBP and 4) fibromyalgia. According to previous research, healthy participants and fibromyalgia patients are two extremes of a "musculoskeletal pain continuum". Healthy participants representing one extreme of the continuum with no pain and fibromyalgia representing the other extreme of the continuum with chronic widespread pain. It is thought that different LBP populations (i.e. (sub)acute, recurrent, chronic LBP) float between the aforementioned extremes. Past studies already highlighted the need for studies comparing the pathophysiological mechanisms for different pain syndromes to identify common underlying mechanisms across pain syndromes. For this reason, the goal of the current study is to compare alterations in brain structure/function, alterations in lumbar muscle function and alterations in central pain processing across the aforementioned "musculoskeletal pain continuum". It is hypothesized that longer duration of pain (recurrent vs chronic) and the extensiveness of the pain (one location vs widespread pain) are associated with more pronounced alterations in 1) brain structure/function, 2) lumbar muscle function and 3) central pain processing.
Study details
- Official title
- The Chronic Pain Brain: Structural White and Gray Matter Correlates of Impaired Muscle Control and Deficient Pain Processing
- Conditions
- Low Back Pain
- Low Back Pain, Recurrent
- Low Back Pain, Chronic
- Healthy Volunteers
- Fibromyalgia
- Sponsor
- University Ghent
- Collaborators
- Fund for Scientific Research, Flanders, Belgium
- Start date
- 2015-10-01
- Primary completion
- 2021-10-30
- Sex
- Female
- Age range
- from 18 Years to 45 Years
- Healthy volunteers
- true
- Results posted
- No results posted in this snapshot
- Countries
- Belgium
- Total sites listed
- 1
Eligibility criteria
Show eligibility criteria (verbatim from the registry)
Inclusion Criteria: 1. Dutch speaking female participants (age between 18 and 45 years). 2. Non-specific recurrent LBP patients experiencing a period of remission at the moment of testing. Patients have to meet the criteria for recurrent LBP (in remission) as described by De Vet et al. (2002) and D'Hooge et al. (2013). 3. Non-specific recurrent LBP patients experiencing a pain flare at the moment of testing. Patients have to meet the criteria for recurrent LBP (during pain flare) as described by De Vet et al. (2002) and D'Hooge et al. (2013). 4. Participants experiencing non-specific chronic LBP (meeting the International Association for the Study of Pain \[IASP\] criteria) 5. Participants diagnosed with fibromyalgia according to the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) criteria (2010) 6. Healthy volunteers with no history of serious respiratory, orthopedic, neurologic or circulatory conditions. No history of low back pain (i.e. low back pain in this case is defined as a period of symptoms lasting a minimum of 2 consecutive days and for which a paramedic is consulted). Participants with a history of spinal surgery, spinal trauma or spinal deformities are also excluded. Healthy participants will be matched for age and BMI with included participants experiencing chronic/recurrent LBP or fibromyalgia. Exclusion Criteria: 1. Pregnancy or breastfeeding in the past year 2. Contraindications for MRI (e.g. electrical/mechanical implants or electrodes in de body, eye/skin injury by metal fragments in the past, etc) 3. BMI lower than 18 or higher than 30 4. Participant performed specific trunk muscle training in the past year. 5. Participating in sports at a professional level
Source: ClinicalTrials.gov (US National Library of Medicine), snapshot October 2026. Check the registry for current recruiting status. Record: https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT06143319