Self-Administered Acupressure for Veterans With Chronic Back Pain: A Multisite Evaluation of Effectiveness and Implementation

Status: Recruiting
Location: See location...
Intervention Type: Behavioral
Study Type: Interventional
Study Phase: Not Applicable
SUMMARY

Many Veterans experience chronic pain, with back pain the most commonly reported condition. The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) is moving from reliance on medications to an approach in which non-medication interventions, including complementary and integrative health treatments, are now a first line of care. Acupressure, a Traditional Chinese Medicine technique derived from acupuncture, is emerging as a potentially effective approach for treating several chronic pain conditions and could prove beneficial in helping Veterans manage their chronic low back pain. This study will determine the effectiveness of self-administered acupressure to treat chronic low back pain. 300 Veterans will be invited to participate in the study. All participants will be asked to attend an introduction to acupressure class and complete a survey when they join the study and again at 6 weeks and 10 weeks. The survey measures assess important outcomes, such as how pain interferes with daily function, as well as other areas that can be affected by pain such as fatigue and sleep quality. After completing the first survey, half of the participants will receive a tablet computer with an app that shows them how to self-administer acupressure for low back pain and will be asked to do daily acupressure sessions for the next 6 weeks. The other half of the participants will receive the tablet computer with the app approximately 10 weeks after completing the final survey based assessment. The investigators anticipate that outcomes will be improved after 6 weeks of acupressure practice, and these improvements will persist for the following 4 weeks.

Eligibility
Participation Requirements
Sex: All
Minimum Age: 18
Healthy Volunteers: f
View:

• Veterans enrolled at VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System

• non-specific low back pain confirmed through electronic medical records (i.e., ICD-10 codes: M54.5, M54.40, 41, 42, M54.89)

• reported pain severity of 4/10 that has persisted for at least 3 months and present on most days

• medically stable (no hospitalizations in the past month lasting 3 or more days)

• no changes in pain medication regimen in past 4 weeks

• no planned surgery or injections for back pain during the next 10 weeks

Locations
United States
Michigan
VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System, Ann Arbor, MI
RECRUITING
Ann Arbor
Contact Information
Primary
Sarah L Krein, PhD RN
Sarah.Krein@va.gov
(734) 845-3621
Backup
Jennifer L Caldararo
Jennifer.Caldararo@va.gov
(734) 222-7428
Time Frame
Start Date: 2022-10-03
Estimated Completion Date: 2025-11-07
Participants
Target number of participants: 300
Treatments
Experimental: acupressure intervention
Receives access to the acupressure intervention
No_intervention: wait list control
No access to the acupressure intervention during the study period
Related Therapeutic Areas
Sponsors
Leads: VA Office of Research and Development

This content was sourced from clinicaltrials.gov