Assessment of the Effects of Extensive Somatosensory Training on Pain Processing

Terminated

• Conditions: Musculoskeletal Pain
• Interventions: Drug: Nerve Growth Factor

• Registration Number: NCT04457466
• Lead Sponsor: Aalborg University

Brief Summary

Persistent pain may lead to several alterations in the brain activity and sensory perception (i.e. pain). Around 80% of professional musicians experience prolonged episodes of musculoskeletal pain throughout their careers, a percentage that is four times higher than in the general population. With this background, the intended experiment aims at understanding the role of several biological factors associated to sensorimotor training that can lead to alteration of the brain activity and, consequently, pain processing.

Detailed Description

Not available

Study Timeline

• Study Start: 2017-10-01
• Primary Completion: 2018-10-01
• Study First Submitted: 2020-06-24
• Study Completion: 2020-07-01
• Study First Submitted QC: 2020-07-02
• Study First Posted: 2020-07-07
• Status Verified: 2022-02
• Last Update Submitted: 2022-02-15
• Last Update Posted: 2022-03-03

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: TERMINATED
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 100

Inclusion Criteria

Healthy men and women Speak and understand English.

General exclusion criteria are:

• Pregnancy
• Drug addiction defined as the use of cannabis, opioids or other drugs
• Previous neurologic or mental illnesses
• Presence of a history of trauma or neurologic entrapment syndromes to the arm regions.
• Lack of ability to cooperate
• Frequent computer gamer ( > 9 hours/week)

Exclusion Criteria

Not provided

Study & Design

• Study Type: OBSERVATIONAL
• Study Design: Not specified

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
Healthy musicians	Nerve Growth Factor	Men and women aged 18-60, who must be enrolled in a music conservatory performance program or be professionally active, and must speak and understand English.
Non-musicians with chronic pain	Nerve Growth Factor	Men and women aged 18-60 with chronic and idiopathic musculoskeletal upper limb and/or neck pain lasting more than 6 months. They must not have any kind of musical training and must speak and understand English.
Musicians with chronic pain	Nerve Growth Factor	Men and women aged 18-60 with chronic and idiopathic musculoskeletal upper limb and/or neck pain lasting more than 6 months. They must be enrolled in a music conservatory performance program or be professionally active and must speak and understand English.
Healthy non-musicians	Nerve Growth Factor	Men and women aged 18-60, must speak and understand English and not have any kind of musical training.

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Cortical Sensory Evoked Potentials	Changes from baseline measured at day 3 and day 8	Electrical stimulation will be elicited to record sensory evoked potentials using electroencephalography (EEG)
Motor Evoked Potentials	Changes from baseline measured at day 3 and day 8	Transcranial magnetic stimualtion will be used to evoke motor evoked potentials (MEPs)
Pain rating	Changes from baseline measured at day 3 and day 8	Pain on an 11-point numerical rating scale (0 = no pain, 10 = most intense pain imaginable)
Brain connectivity	Changes from baseline measured at day 3 and day 8	Continuous electroencephalography recording will be used to explore connectivity between brain areas

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Pressure pain thresholds	Changes from baseline measured at day 3 and day 8	Pressure applied to the surface of the skin using a handheld algometer
Questionnaires	Changes from baseline measured at day 3 and day 8	Questionnaires about pain and muscle soreness (Pain catastrophization; State and Trait anxiety; Pain vigilance)

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

Aalborg University; 🇩🇰 Aalborg, Nordjylland, Denmark