PREDICT-CLBP pilot study

About the study

Back pain is the greatest cause of disability around the world. In Australia, back pain is predicted to cost around $9.2billion per year. Low back pain remaining for longer than 12 weeks is classed as ‘persisting’ low back pain and affects around 20% of the global population. A certain diagnosis for the pain cannot be made in up to 95% of cases of low back pain. When a clear cause of the pain in the spine cannot be established, it is difficult for health care practitioners to know how to best treat the condition. To better understand this, we will assess the health of the spine, psychological and social health, as well as changes in the nervous system, to see if there are sub-groups of individuals with persisting low back pain.

We are recruiting people aged 18-55 years that have persisting (>12 weeks) low back pain to participate in several tests to help us get a better understanding of how different body systems contribute to the condition. We are also recruiting individuals without low back pain to act as the control group.

All participants will undergo two testing sessions to assess (1) physical, mental, and social health, pressure-pain thresholds, and spine imaging and (2) brain imaging. Upon completing both testing sessions, participants will receive a pre-paid credit card to the value of $70.

You can read more about the project here.

If you think you fit the criteria for the project and are interested to participate in this research, please register your interest by completing the online form. One of the research team will then be in touch.