Massage and Electroacupuncture in Chronic Lumbar Pain

Sponsor
University of Thessaly (Other)
Overall Status
Recruiting
CT.gov ID
NCT04108546
Collaborator
(none)
110
2
2
59
55
0.9

Study Details

Study Description

Brief Summary

The aim of this study is to evaluate and compare in patients with chronic back pain two therapeutic interventions: a) the combination of massage and electroacupuncture; and b) the application of epidural analgesia in pain, functioning-incompetence, quality of life and mood.

Condition or Disease Intervention/Treatment Phase
  • Device: Electroacupuncture device
  • Drug: Epidural analgesia
N/A

Study Design

Study Type:
Interventional
Anticipated Enrollment :
110 participants
Allocation:
Randomized
Intervention Model:
Parallel Assignment
Masking:
Single (Outcomes Assessor)
Primary Purpose:
Treatment
Official Title:
The Effect of Combination of Massage and Electroacupuncture in Patients With Chronic Lumbar Pain. Comparison With the Use of Epidural Analgesia
Actual Study Start Date :
Feb 1, 2020
Anticipated Primary Completion Date :
Oct 1, 2024
Anticipated Study Completion Date :
Dec 31, 2024

Arms and Interventions

Arm Intervention/Treatment
Experimental: massage-electroacupuncture

Electroacupuncture will be applied throughout the back of the body, upper limbs and ears.Massage will follow the same paths of acupuncture points respectively

Device: Electroacupuncture device
The technical characteristics of the device will be: power supply with alkaline batteries (4 pieces), 6V voltage, 6 independently regulated channels, symmetrical biphasic rectangular pulse, excitation from pen type electrode 0.48mA, with high 0.32mA + / -25% & low 0.16mA +/- 25%. Three preset programs to avoid tolerance effect: program 1) 1-6Hz, program 2) 30-100Hz, program 3) 2-100Hz. Low frequencies (2Hz) cause release of endorphins in the brain and enkephalins in the spinal cord, high frequencies (30-100Hz) cause release of dynorphins in the spinal cord, while medium frequencies (15Hz) cause simultaneous release of endorphin and dynorphin. At low frequencies slow diffuse analgesia is achieved with a long duration of analgesic effect, while at high frequencies rapid local analgesic effect of short duration is achieved.

Active Comparator: Epidural analgesia

Epidural analgesia will be applied using ropivacaine 0.2%, 5-7% ml and Fentanyl 25 mcg

Drug: Epidural analgesia
Ropivacaine (Naropeine) 0.2%, 5-7% ml, and Fentanyl 25mcg

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcome Measures

  1. Assessment of pain intensity: VAS [2 years]

    The Visual Analog Scale scale in its numerical version will be used to evaluate the pain. The Numeric Pain Rating Scale is a segmented numeric version of the Visual Analog Scale in which a respondent selects a whole number (0-10 integers) that best reflects the intensity of his/her pain (0 - no pain, 10 - worst pain).

  2. Assessment of functional status and incompetence in both groups [2 years]

    The Oswestry & Roland-Morris Disability Questionnaire (specific for low-back pain) will be used to assess patient functional status and incompetence

  3. Measurement of health-related quality of life [2 years]

    The SF-36 Health Survey questionnaire will be used. It is a generic measure of health status as opposed to one that targets a specific age, disease, or treatment group. It has three levels: (1) items; (2) eight scales that aggregate 2-10 items each; and (3) two summary measures that aggregate scales. Each item is used in scoring only one scale. Three scales (Physical Functioning, Role-Physical, Bodily Pain) correlate most highly with the physical component and contribute most to the scoring of the Physical Component Summary measure. The mental component correlates most highly with the Mental Health, Role-Emotional, and Social Functioning scales, which also contribute most to the scoring of the Mental Component Summary measure. Three of the scales (Vitality, General Health, and Social Functioning) have noteworthy correlations with both components. The SF-36 has a verbatim content and response choices.

  4. Profile of mood states [2 years]

    The The Profile of Mood States (acronym: POMS) is a standard validated psychological test. This questionnaire will be used to investigate the mood level. It is a questionnaire investigating the mood level and assessing the impact of a program on the patient mood in the short term. The questionnaire consists of 72 adjectives related to mood, which are grouped into 6 factors. The first five factors are negatively rated (high scores correspond to more negative emotions). The sixth factor is scored positively (high scores correspond to higher vitality). Participants are asked to complete these adjectives in a 5-point Likert-type scale ranging from "not at all" (0) to "extremely" (4).

Eligibility Criteria

Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study:
20 Years to 65 Years
Sexes Eligible for Study:
All
Accepts Healthy Volunteers:
No
Inclusion Criteria:
  • Patients suffering from lumbar pain of benign etiology

  • Age 20 to 65 years

Exclusion Criteria:
  • Ages over 65 or below 20 years

  • Neoplasms (benign or malignant etiology)

  • Contagious or infectious disease

  • Dermopathy

  • Pregnancy

  • Alcohol or drug use

  • Previous use of epidural analgesia

  • Systemic opioid use

  • Severe heart disease

  • Fever for more than one sessions

  • Allergy to the oil which will be used and its derivatives

  • Thrombi or varicose veins

  • Psychiatric disease

Contacts and Locations

Locations

Site City State Country Postal Code
1 University Hospital of Larisa, Department of Anesthesiology Larisa Thessaly Greece 41110
2 University Hospital of Larissa Larissa Thessaly Greece 41110

Sponsors and Collaborators

  • University of Thessaly

Investigators

None specified.

Study Documents (Full-Text)

None provided.

More Information

Publications

Responsible Party:
Elena Arnaoutoglou, Professor of Anesthesiology, University of Thessaly
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:
NCT04108546
Other Study ID Numbers:
  • 8/19ης/22-11-2018
First Posted:
Sep 30, 2019
Last Update Posted:
Nov 17, 2021
Last Verified:
Nov 1, 2021
Individual Participant Data (IPD) Sharing Statement:
Undecided
Plan to Share IPD:
Undecided
Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated Drug Product:
No
Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated Device Product:
No
Additional relevant MeSH terms:

Study Results

No Results Posted as of Nov 17, 2021