Photo Credit: AmnajKhetsamtip

The following is a summary of “Short- and medium-term effects of a single session of pain neuroscience education on pain and psychological factors in patients with chronic low back pain. A single-blind randomized clinical trial,” published in the July 2024 issue of Pain by Tomás-Rodríguez et al.

Healthcare providers face challenges in implementing recommended high-dose Pain Neuroscience Education (PNE) due to workload and time constraints, leading to reliance on biomechanical Back School for managing chronic low back pain (CLBP) in public systems.

Researchers conducted a retrospective study assessing the impact of a 60-minute single session of PNE, combined with Back School, on pain intensity and psychological variables in patients with CLBP.

They enrolled 121 patients with CLBP from a Spanish public hospital, receiving the Back School program over 5 weeks, or the intervention group, which also received a single session of PNE. A 12-week follow-up assessed patient-reported outcomes using the Numerical Pain Rating Scale, Central Sensitization Inventory, Pain Catastrophizing Scale, and Tampa Scale of Kinesiophobia.

The result showed 113 patients with similar improvements in pain and fear of movement (kinesiophobia) between the intervention and control groups. At the follow-up, the intervention group showed a greater reduction in sensitivity and catastrophism scores compared to the control group. Additionally, the intervention using PNE led to a lower percentage of participants being classified with central sensitization than the control group.

Investigators concluded that a single PNE session within a back pain program modestly improved psychological aspects of chronic pain but did not impact pain itself, suggesting the potential value in time-limited healthcare settings.

Source: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/ejp.4700