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Pain neuroscience education, cognition-targeted motor control training effectively reduced chronic spinal pain
Investigators found that in patients with chronic spinal pain, pain neuroscience education combined with cognition-targeted motor control training was more effective for improving pain than best-evidence physiotherapy.
“When having chronic neck or low back pain, my advice it to stay active and move functional[ly] without fear of pain or re-injury,” Anneleen Malfliet, MSc, told Healio.com/Orthopedics. “Your level of activity or way of moving prior to the chronic pain symptoms should be used as guideline/target in therapy.”
Malfliet and colleagues performed a multicenter, randomized clinical trial of 120 patients with chronic non-specific spinal pain. Patients were randomized into either an experimental group or a control group. The experimental group received combined pain neuroscience education and cognition-targeted motor control training. The control group received a combination of education on back and neck pain and general exercise therapy. Follow-up visits were at 3, 6 and 12 months. Pain and function were the primary outcomes.
Results showed patients in the experimental group experienced pain relief, had higher pressure/pain thresholds at a primary test site at 3 months, and at 6 and 12 months had a decrease in central sensitization inventory scores. At all follow-up visits, patients in the experimental group had functional improvements, with a significant and clinical decrease in disability. These patients also had better mental health at 6 months and had better physical health at all time points. – by Monica Jaramillo
Disclosures : The authors report no relevant financial disclosures.