N/A N=36 Randomized Health Services Research

Rage Against the Pain to Address Chronic Low Back Pain Among Veterans

Chronic Low Back Pain

Bottom Line

View on ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT05103475 ↗

Enrolled (actual)

Serious AEs

0.0%

Results posted

Sep 2024

Primary outcome: Primary: Program Initiation (e.g., Reach) — 16; 15 Participants — p=1.0

Study Design & Population

Study type: Interventional
Phase: N/A
Interventions: Rage Against the Pain (RAP) (Behavioral); Control (Behavioral)
Age: Adult, Older Adult · 18+ yrs
Sex: All
Sponsor: VA Office of Research and Development
Primary completion: May 2023

Outcome Measures

Outcome	Result	p-value
PRIMARY Program Initiation (e.g., Reach)	16; 15	1.0
PRIMARY Program Participation (e.g., Sustained Engagement) - Average Number of Classes Attended	5.9; 4.5	0.35
PRIMARY Program Participation (e.g., Sustained Engagement) - Number of Veterans Who Attend Majority of Classes	8; 3	0.15
SECONDARY Pain Intensity	5.1; 6.5; 4.0; 5.9	0.43
SECONDARY Pain Interference	63.0; 64.6; 59.2; 63.8	0.70
SECONDARY Back Pain-related Function	10.1; 14.1; 8.5; 12.2	0.37
SECONDARY Sleep	14.5; 15.9; 11.1; 14.5	0.56
SECONDARY Depression	9.1; 9.6; 7.6; 8.2	0.50
SECONDARY Stress	8.2; 7.4; 6.4; 7.9	0.54
SECONDARY Use of Other Pain Management Strategies	1.6; 1.7; 2.5; 2.9	0.11
SECONDARY Perceptions of the Program	9; 6; 8; 7; 8; 2	0.41
SECONDARY Pain Medication Use	2.3; 2.5; 1.7; 2.4	0.91

Summary

Chronic low back pain is a leading cause of disability among Veterans. Yoga is recommended as a front-line treatment option for chronic low back pain and is available across the VA healthcare system; however, despite yoga being the most widely adopted of VHA's Complementary and Integrative Health (CIH) therapies, Veteran participation in yoga still remains limited. Although it can be effective in managing pain, individuals cannot reap the benefits of yoga if they are unwilling to adopt it. One potential barrier to adoption of yoga among Veterans may be their perceptions of yoga, which for some, encompass long-held but perhaps inaccurate beliefs of what the practice entails and how their participation will be viewed by others. The goal of this study was to develop and evaluate an alternative-to-yoga program intended to improve Veteran participation and by extension, outcomes among Veterans with chronic low back pain. Based on Veteran input, we called this yoga program Rage Against the Pain (RAP) 'High Intensity Stretching'.

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

Veterans will be eligible to participate in the study if they:

currently receive primary care services at the Hines VA
received a diagnosis associated with chronic low back pain in the previous 3 months

Exclusion Criteria

Veterans will be ineligible to participate in the study if any of the following are true for them:

they currently regularly participate in yoga
they regularly participated in yoga in the previous 6 months
their back pain is a symptom of a specific treatable or underlying disease/condition(s), e.g.,
ankylosing spondylitis
active or recent malignancy
fracture/spinal cord injury
spinal infection)
they are experiencing progressive neurological deficits
they have any other condition which results in severe disability, e.g.,
non-ambulatory
hemiparesis
severe cognitive deficits
they have a diagnosis associated with psychosis
they are currently experiencing issues around substance abuse (not including prescription opioids), as identified through ICD-10 codes associated with 'mental and behavioral disorders due to psychoactive substance use' recorded in the patient's medical record in the previous 3 months
they do not plan to be living in the Chicagoland area for the duration of the study
they are pregnant at the time of screening

View full record on ClinicalTrials.gov →

Data sourced from ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT05103475). Outcome figures and adverse-event rates are extracted automatically from the registry's posted results and are provided for clinician reference, not as a substitute for the primary publication.