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Brain Mechanisms of Acupuncture Treatment in Chronic Low Back Pain

NCT01595451 · Status: COMPLETED · Phase: NA · Type: INTERVENTIONAL · Enrollment: 79

Last updated 2017-11-29

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

We are doing this study to investigate the effects of acupuncture on chronic low back pain. We are interested in learning about brain activity during pain. We plan to look at brain activity at the beginning and the end of the study, after 6 sessions of acupuncture treatment. You will be randomly assigned to one of two groups to receive either real or placebo acupuncture.

Acupuncture has been used for many years to help relieve pain. However, it is not clear how acupuncture works. Acupuncture may relieve pain by changing activity in the nervous system. Some studies indicate that acupuncture may relieve the low back pain. However, we need more research to see how well acupuncture works to relieve pain for people with this condition.

In this study, we will measure your brain activity before and after you do exercises to make your back pain worse. We will also measure your brain activity while inflating a pressure cuff device on your lower leg. We will measure this brain activity using a research tool called functional MRI (fMRI). Functional MRI is a very fast MRI that uses radio waves and a magnet, and allows the study investigators to look at changes in blood flow to different parts of the brain when there are changes in brain activity.

Conditions

  • Chronic Low Back Pain
  • Low Back Pain
  • Back Pain

Interventions

PROCEDURE

Acupuncture

A licensed acupuncturist will perform acupuncture for six, 30 minute treatment sessions.

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • Massachusetts General Hospital

    collaborator OTHER

  • National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH)

    collaborator NIH

  • Brigham and Women's Hospital

    lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

  • Robert Edwards, Ph.D. · Brigham and Women's Hospital

Study Design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
DOUBLE
Model
PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age
18 Years
Max Age
60 Years
Sex
ALL
Healthy Volunteers
No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2012-01-31
Primary Completion
2017-05-31
Completion
2017-10-31

Countries

  • United States

Study Locations

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Entities

Diseases

Read the full study record

This page highlights key information. For complete eligibility criteria, study locations, investigator contacts, and the full protocol, visit the original record on ClinicalTrials.gov.

View NCT01595451 on ClinicalTrials.gov