Study Comparing Cortical Function and Dysfunction Tests in Low Back Pain

Kuopio University Hospital80 enrolled

Overview

The purpose of this study is to explore the cortical regulation of the paraspinal muscles in chronic low back pain. These (possible) changes in regulatory mechanisms are being compared to other motor control tests in order to determine whether correlations are found. Furthermore the patients are being treated with repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) and tested afterwards. The purpose is to find out if rTMS-therapy is capable of normalizing motor control deficits.

Study Type

INTERVENTIONAL

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

BASIC_SCIENCE

Masking

SINGLE

Enrollment

Conditions

Chronic Nonspecific Low Back Pain

Interventions

transcranial magnetic stimulationDEVICE

rTMS therapy daily for two weeks, five times per week each lasting for half an hour

Eligibility

Sex: MALEMin age: 25 YearsMax age: 50 YearsHealthy volunteers:

Medical Language ↔ Plain English

Inclusion Criteria: * chronic nonspecific low back pain for at least six months * male gender * age 25-50 yrs * average pain during last week 4-8/10 by VAS * Oswestry disability index 20-80 % Exclusion Criteria: * former spinal operations * rheumatic disease, marked spondylolysis and -olisthesis, other diseases that markedly reduce physical or psychological performance, history of epilepsy, history of taking epileptic or strong opioid drugs

Locations (1)

Kuopio University Hospital

Kuopio, Finland

Outcomes

Primary Outcomes

Correlation between cortical activity and other motor control tests

Time frame: day 1 and day 19

Secondary Outcomes

The effect of rTMS-therapy for clinical outcome and motor control tests

Time frame: day 19, 1 month, 2 months, 1 year

Data from ClinicalTrials.gov

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