Dual-task Training for Frail Older Adults With Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain (Pilot)

Not Applicable

Not yet recruiting

• Conditions: Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain; Frailty

• Registration Number: NCT07035327
• Lead Sponsor: The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Brief Summary

The goal of this clinical trial is to investigate the effect of a 10-week dual-task training program on frailty status in community-dwelling older adults with frailty and chronic musculoskeletal pain.

Main question: What is the effect of a 10-week dual-task training program that combines resistance and cognitive training on the frailty status in community-dwelling older adults who have frailty and chronic musculoskeletal pain?

Participants will attend supervised training sessions (either dual-task training \[Intervention group\] or resistance exercise \[Control group\]) for 10 weeks.

Detailed Description

Not available

Study Timeline

• Study First Submitted: 2025-06-05
• Study First Submitted QC: 2025-06-15
• Study First Posted: 2025-06-25
• Status Verified: 2025-07
• Study Start: 2025-07-01
• Last Update Submitted: 2025-07-09
• Last Update Posted: 2025-07-14
• Primary Completion: 2025-11
• Study Completion: 2026-03-01

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: NOT_YET_RECRUITING
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 38

Inclusion Criteria

• Adults, of either sex, aged 60 years or above,
• living in Hong Kong, being able to read and communicate verbally,
• screened frail using the Tilburg Frailty Indicator (TFI) (total score ≥5) with report of memory problems (question 9) (Gobbens et al., 2010),
• experiencing any CMP with a pain level higher or equal to 4 in the numerical pain rating scale over a consecutive 3-month period.

Exclusion Criteria

Any individuals with either of the following will be excluded:

• absence of frailty,
• surgical procedure in the lower limbs or the vertebral column;
• wheelchair bound or inability to walk for five minutes;
• severe balance impairment;
• uncompensated cardiac or vascular condition;
• acute inflammatory musculoskeletal conditions;
• ongoing cancer; dementia;
• neurological diseases such as stroke, Parkinson's disease, cerebellar disease, myelopathy, and peripheral neuropathy;
• mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, bipolar, psychosis, borderline personality disorder;
• illiteracy.

Study & Design

• Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Design: PARALLEL

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Frailty status	Baseline (Week 0) and Post-treatment (Week 10)	Measured by Short Physical Performance Battery (SPPB).; * The SPPB is an assessment tool for participants' physical function and can be used to show the physical frailty.; * It includes 3 components: standing balance, 4-m gait speed, and five-repetition sit-to-stand motion. Each component has a score of 0-4. The total score ranges from 0 to 12 points. A higher score mean a worse outcome.; * A total score of \<9 is regarded as frail.
Frailty Status	Baseline (Week 0) and Post-treatment (Week 10)	Measured by Fried Frailty Phenotype (FFP).; * It consists of 5 components in assessing the severity of frailty, including weight loss, weakness, exhaustion, slowness and low physical activity, with a score of 0 or 1 for each component.; * The total score ranges from 0 to 5 points. A higher score mean a worse outcome. The frailty status is categorized into robust (0), pre-frail (1-2), and frail (3-5).

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Cognitive function	Baseline (Week 0) and Post-treatment (Week 10)	Measured by Cognitive failures questionnaire (CFQ) (Chinese version), a self-report measure to assess individual forgetfulness, distractibility, and false triggering in everyday life.; - It has 25 items (0-4 points). The total score ranges from 0 to 100 points. A higher point indicates fewer cognitive difficulties in daily life.
Pain level	Baseline (Week 0) and Post-treatment (Week 10)	The average pain score will be assessed by the Numerical Pain Rating Scale (NPRS).; * Participants will be asked to rate the average pain level on a scale from 0 (no pain) to 10 (maximal pain).; * A higher score mean a worse outcome (higher pain level).
Health-related quality of life	Baseline (Week 0) and Post-treatment (Week 10)	Measured by EuroQoL 5-Dimension 5-Level (EQ-5D-5L) (Hong Kong Chinese version) questionnaire.; * The questionnaire consists of 5 dimensions of health, including mobility, self-care, usual activities, pain/discomfort and anxiety/depression. Each dimension will be rated from 1 (no problem) to 5 (extreme problems). A higher score mean a worse outcome.; * It also has an EQ-VAS scale to self-rate the overall health perception from 0 (worst health) to 100 (best health). A higher score mean a better outcome.
Acceptability towards the programme	At final session of the 10-week program	A six-question post-program questionnaire based on the barriers to engaging in physical activity.; - All questions will be asked to rate from a 5-point Likert scale from 'Strongly disagree' to 'Strongly agree'.

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

PolyU Institutional Review Board, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University; 🇭🇰 Hong Kong, Hong Kong