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EXpain Trial - Exercise an a Non-pharmacological Pain-relieving Treatment in People With Multiple Sclerosis

NCT07342777 · Status: RECRUITING · Phase: NA · Type: INTERVENTIONAL · Enrollment: 116

Last updated 2026-01-15

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

The primary goal of this study is to test whether 12 weeks of progressive resistance exercise is an effective non-pharmacological treatment for reducing pain in people with multiple sclerosis and chronic pain.

The study will be a randomized controlled trial with multiple training sites. After baseline testing, participants will be randomly assigned to either a 12-week progressive resistance exercise intervention followed by a 12-week follow-up period or to a 24-week waitlist control group that receives usual care.

It is hypothesized that people with multiple sclerosis and chronic pain who receive the intervention will experience greater reductions in pain (i.e., clinically relevant reductions) compared to the waitlist control group (primary hypothesis), and that this pain reduction will be preserved after a 12-week follow-up period (secondary hypothesis).

Conditions

Interventions

OTHER

Progressive resistance exercise

Participants assigned to this arm will undergo 12 weeks of progressive heavy-load resistance exercise, with 5 sessions over a 2-week period (equaling a total of 30 sessions). Each session will commence with a 5-minute warm-up using a bicycle ergometer. The training program will consist of machine-based exercises, including leg press, knee extensions, hamstring curls, seated calf raises, chest press, and lateral pull-down. Progression will be ensured through an increase in the number of sets (from 3 to 4, interspersed by 1-2 minutes of rest) for each exercise along with an increment in intensity (from 15 Repetition Maximum (RM) towards 8RM.

OTHER

Usual Care followed by progressive resistance exercise

Participants assigned to this arm will undergo 24 weeks of waitlist control. The control group will continue their habitual lifestyle and usual care throughout the whole period. After 24 weeks, the waitlist control group will undergo the same progressive resistance exercise regimen as described in the intervention group.

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • Aalborg University

    collaborator OTHER

  • University of Aarhus

    lead OTHER

Study Design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
SINGLE
Model
PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age
18 Years
Sex
ALL
Healthy Volunteers
No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2026-01-15
Primary Completion
2028-07-01
Completion
2028-08-01

Countries

  • Denmark

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 NCT07342777 on ClinicalTrials.gov