Laterality Training and Pain Drawings: A Randomized Controlled Trial

The goal of this clinical trial is to learn if laterality training (a type of brain-based therapy) can help reduce pain and change how people with chronic musculoskeletal pain experience and describe their pain. The study will focus on adults with shoulder or knee pain lasting longer than 6 months.

The main questions it aims to answer are:

Does laterality training lead to a reduction in self-reported pain levels?

Does laterality training reduce the area of the body that participants indicate as painful in their pain drawings?

Does laterality training improve accuracy and speed in left/right judgment tasks?

Researchers will compare participants who complete laterality training to those who complete a non-therapeutic cognitive task (a word puzzle) to see if laterality training changes pain drawings and improves pain outcomes.

Participants will:

Complete a pre-intervention assessment including pain ratings, pain drawings, and a left/right judgment test

Be randomly assigned to one of two groups:

Intervention group: Complete 5 one-minute sessions of laterality training using a tablet-based app called Recognise™, identifying left or right hand/foot images depending on the location of their pain

Control group: Complete a 10-minute crossword puzzle activity (non-therapeutic)

Complete the same assessments after the activity (pain ratings, pain drawings, left/right judgment test)

The study will take place at two outpatient physical therapy clinics. Participation involves a single session lasting approximately 30-45 minutes. There is no cost to participate, and no compensation is provided. Participation is voluntary, and all personal data will be kept confidential.

This research will help determine whether laterality training, a non-invasive brain-based technique, can reduce pain and improve quality of life in people with long-standing musculoskeletal pain.