Development of a Tele-Physiotherapy Tool for the Early Management of Muskuloskeletal Pain in People With Visual Impairement (TeleEDxPhysio)

Summary

Chronic NonSpecific Low Back Pain (CNSLBP) is a common musculoskeletal condition often resulting in physical inactivity and disability. CNSLBP is associated with a large number of social and health costs, being one of the most important health problems worldwide. Although Therapeutical Exercise (TE) has been shown to be effective in increasing physical activity tolerance, physical fitness, strength, self perceived quality of live, pain tolerance, and overall physical activity participation levels in persons with CNSLBP, pain-release-passive therapy modalities are significantly more commonly used in clinical settings at present. On the other hand, the use of tele-assistance platforms PTAs has been gaining importance in the treatment of CNSLBP patients, especially in the use of semi-directed TE programs. However, current PTAs are not accessible for the visually impaired, a group that is at greater risk of suffering from sedentary lifestyles, restricted mobility and musculoskeletal pain due to postural or gait changes. The main hypothesis of these study is that a semi-directed TE and health education programm, in people with and without visual impairment, achieves better results in movement capacity, functional recovery, strength and compared to passive analgesic treatment in patients with CNSLBP. In a second objective, we will assess the efficacy and usability of a new PTA accesible tool for the follow-up of patients with CNSLBP who are visually impaired.

Conditions

• Low Back Pain
• Visual Impairment

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

physical exercise

Group A (physical exercise, combined with pain education and healthy lifestyle habits), will receive an intervention programme consisting of 3 sessions per week for 12 weeks (total of 36 sessions). Each week there will be one face-to-face session, followed by 2 home sessions, (12 face-to-face and 24 home sessions). The sessions will include cardiovascular exercises, 2 days a week we will work on strength13 and 1 day a week we will work on mobility and exercises to improve movement control, both before the cardiovascular effort14 . Each session will include a light warm-up (at the beginning of the session) and a cool down (at the end).

OTHER

Manual therapy

Group B will receive a treatment based on passive analgesic techniques consisting of manual therapy, electrotherapy (interferential currents) and thermotherapy (microwaves). This treatment will be carried out in two weekly sessions (over eight weeks) of 40 minutes each, consisting of 15 minutes of manual therapy (of the lumbopelvic musculature), 10 minutes of electrotherapy (interferential current in the lumbar region) and thermotherapy (10 minutes local in the lumbar region).

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Universidad de Zaragoza

  collaborator OTHER

• Escuela Universitaria de Fisioterapia de la Once

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• João Sousa, MSc · Escuela Universitaria de Fisioterapia de la Once

Study Design

Allocation

NON_RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

DOUBLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Max Age

65 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2022-11-14

Primary Completion

2024-10-06

Completion

2024-12-15

Countries

• Spain

Study Locations