Chronic Pain, Emotions and Professional Football
CompletedNCT07583368
View the official record on ClinicalTrials.gov Recruiting status changes often. Contact the study team listed on ClinicalTrials.gov, and talk to your doctor before joining a study.
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 pain is influenced by biological, psychological, and social factors, including emotions and environmental context. Prior research demonstrates that emotional states and psychosocial processes such as depression, fear-avoidance, and catastrophizing significantly shape the pain experience. Professional sports fandom is known to influence emotional well-being, but its relationship to chronic pain has not yet been examined. This longitudinal observational study aims to evaluate whether weekly performance outcomes of participants' favorite U.S. professional football (NFL) teams are associated with fluctuations in self-reported pain intensity, depression, and pain catastrophization among adults with chronic pain who identify as avid football fans. Participants will complete weekly online surveys throughout the NFL regular season, reporting pain ratings (NPRS) and depressive symptoms (PHQ-2). Team performance (win/loss, played/did not play, rival results) will be recorded by the research team. The study seeks to determine whether sports-related emotional fluctuations correlate with changes in chronic pain experiences.
Study details
- Official title
- Chronic Pain, Emotions and Professional Football
- Conditions
- Interventions
- Other: No Intervention: Observational Cohort
- Sponsor
- Evidence In Motion
- Collaborators
- St. Ambrose University
- Start date
- 2025-07-18
- Primary completion
- 2026-01-09
- Sex
- All
- Age range
- from 18 Years
- 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: * Age 18 and above * Chronic pain \> 1 year * Provide written consent * Proficient in reading and understanding English * Identify as an avid football fan of a current US professional football team (NFL). Criteria include: * Watching all/most of their team's games during the season * Watching games of their main competitor * Engage in social media regarding their team during and outside of the season * Wears team apparel during and outside of the season Exclusion Criteria: * Not willing to participate in the study * Not willing to comply with weekly data collection requirements * Do not meet the criteria for being classified as an avid football fan.
Source: ClinicalTrials.gov (US National Library of Medicine), snapshot October 2026. Check the registry for current recruiting status. Record: https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT07583368