Can better teamwork between doctors and physiotherapists ease the burden of low back pain?
NCT ID NCT07802951
First seen Sep 03, 2026 · Last updated Sep 04, 2026 · Updated 1 time
Summary
This study explores how general practitioners, physiotherapists, and patients with low back pain understand and practice collaborative clinical reasoning, which means developing a shared mental model of the problem. Researchers will run separate focus groups for each group, then bring them together in a mixed workshop to refine findings. The goal is to identify barriers and facilitators to this teamwork in primary care, with an eye toward reducing overmedicalization and improving coordination.
What this could mean
Our plain-language read of the trial. This is informational only, not medical advice or a prediction.
- Active substance
- Focus groups and a deliberative workshop
- What this could lead to
- If this works, it could point toward better teamwork in primary care for low back pain, with fewer unnecessary treatments and more coordinated care.
- What could go wrong
- This is a small, exploratory qualitative study, not a treatment test. Its findings may not apply beyond French-speaking Belgium, and it will not directly change patient outcomes.
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Study facts
What this study's own registry entry says, in plain language.
- Phase
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Not a phased trial
Phase numbers describe drug development. The registry uses this when they do not apply, as it does for trials of devices, procedures or behaviour changes, and for observational studies.
- Participants
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About 225 people
The number the study aims to enrol. It can still change while the study runs.
- Expected to start
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Sep 2026
An estimate. Start dates often move.
- Expected to finish
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Dec 2027
An estimate. End dates often move.
- Lead sponsor
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Other sponsor
The registry's catch-all category, for sponsors it does not file as a company, a government agency, or a research network.
Who can take part
This study's own entry requirements. Only the study team can say for certain whether you qualify.
- Ages
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18 to 100 years
- Sex
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Anyone
- Healthy volunteers
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Not accepted
This study is not open to healthy volunteers. The entry requirements below say who it is open to.
Show the full entry requirements Hide the full entry requirements
Copied word for word from the study's registry entry, so the wording is the study team's rather than ours.
Inclusion Criteria: A. General Practitioners 1. Be a general practitioner or a physician in postgraduate training in general practice. 2. Practice general medicine in French-speaking Belgium. 3. Practice general medicine in primary care. B. Physiotherapists 1. Be a physiotherapist. 2. Practice physiotherapy in French-speaking Belgium. 3. Practice physiotherapy in primary care. C. Patients with low back pain 1. Age ≥18 years. 2. Have low back pain (pain between the lower margin of the ribs and the gluteal fold, with or without pain in one or both legs). 3. Have consulted both a general practitioner and a physiotherapist for this condition in primary care in French-speaking Belgium. Exclusion Criteria: A. General Practitioners 1\. Be on sick leave during the study (e.g., work incapacity) B. Physiotherapists 1. Practice exclusively in a nursing home or a nursing home with skilled nursing care. 2. Be on sick leave during the study (e.g., work incapacity). C. Patients with low back pain 1. Have a known specific lumbar pathology (e.g., fracture, infection, cancer, lumbar radiculopathy, etc). 2. Have a known general condition that may explain the low back pain (e.g., fibromyalgia, osteoporosis, rheumatologic disease, etc). 3. Have undergone back surgery within the past 12 months. 4. Be pregnant or have had a known pregnancy within the past 12 months. 5. Reside in a nursing home or a nursing home with skilled nursing care.
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Conditions
The condition(s) this trial relates to.
As listed by the trial registrant
The condition terms exactly as the trial's registrant entered them.
How to take part
Only the study team decides who joins. These are the ways to reach them.
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The official record
The full official record for this study. This one lists no contact details, but it is the first place any would appear.
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A doctor treating you
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