Can brain training rewire diabetic nerve pain?
NCT ID NCT06603792
First seen Sep 15, 2026 · Last updated Sep 16, 2026 · Updated 1 time
Summary
Researchers are testing whether EEG neurofeedback can reduce chronic nerve pain in adults with type 1 or type 2 diabetes. The technique uses real-time brainwave imaging to help people learn to adjust their own brain activity. In this blinded, randomized trial, 60 participants receive either real neurofeedback or a sham version, and researchers compare changes in pain intensity, sleep, mood, and daily functioning.
What this could mean
Our plain-language read of the trial. This is informational only, not medical advice or a prediction.
- Active substance
- EEG neurofeedback, a brain-training technique that uses real-time brainwave imaging to help people adjust their own brain activity
- What this could lead to
- If it works, neurofeedback could offer a drug-free way to ease chronic nerve pain in people with diabetes, a condition that is often hard to treat.
- What could go wrong
- This is a small, single-center trial, and brain training does not help everyone. Placebo effects are strong in pain studies, so the sham comparison is crucial, and any benefit may fade after treatment ends.
This is an AI summary of the original study and may miss details. Read our disclaimer.
Study facts
What this study's own registry entry says, in plain language.
- Phase
-
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
-
About 60 people
The number the study aims to enrol. It can still change while the study runs.
- Started
-
Sep 2024
- Expected to finish
-
Jun 2027
An estimate. End dates often move.
- Lead sponsor
-
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
-
18 to 82 years
- Sex
-
Anyone
- Healthy volunteers
-
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 * Age ≥18 and ≤82 years * Diagnosed with 1) type 1 diabetes (for at least 5 years) or 2) type 2 diabetes * Confirmed diagnosis of at least "Probable Diabetic Polyneuropathy" as defined by Toronto Consensus Criteria (Presence of a combination of symptoms and signs of neuropathy including any two or more of the following: neuropathic symptoms, decreased distal sensation, or unequivocally decreased or absent ankle reflexes), and at least one of the following: * TCNS \> 5 * Abnormal DPNCheck results (amplitude \< 4µV and/or conduction velocity \< 40 m/s) * Abnormal NCS (Nerve Conduction Study) * Confirmed diagnosis of at least "Probable Neuropathic Pain" as defined by NeuPSIG guidelines (Pain distribution which makes neuropathic pain neuroanatomically plausible and history suggests relevant disease (e.g., symmetric pain in the feet/lower extremities and history of diabetes), and at least one of the following: * Negative or positive sensory signs, confined to innervation territory of the lesioned nervous structure (abnormal findings in at least one of: pinprick, temperature sensation, light touch (monofilament), vibration sense (biothesiometry or 128Hz tuning fork, position sense). * Abnormal DPNCheck results (amplitude \< 4µV and/or conduction velocity \< 40 m/s) * Abnormal NCS (Nerve Conduction Study) * Eligible patients with painful DPN must have a pain intensity of at least 4 on an 11-point numerical rating scale (NRS, 0-10) for at least 3 months on at least semi-daily basis and no severe pain other than pain due to neuropathy (the pain intensity will be based on the pain the patients experience while on current pain treatment, if any). * Stable pain medication for \> 1 month prior to inclusion. Exclusion criteria * Concomitant neurological (neurodegenerative disorders, migraine, epilepsy, stroke, tumor) or clinically significant psychiatric illness * Neuropathy or neuropathic pain due to other causes than diabetes (vitamin B12 deficiency, prior treatment with neurotoxic chemotherapy, chronic alcohol abuse, spinal stenosis, etc.) * Change in current pain treatment during treatment (paracetamol is allowed as rescue medicine) * Prior or current excessive alcohol use (\>14 or \>21 units/week for women and men, respectively) or illegal substance abuse * Positive urine hCG test result indicating pregnancy * Morphine use \>20mg/day * Blindness or severely impaired vision * The investigator finds the patient unfit for the study (e.g. due to use of alcohol or drugs, mental incapacity, unwillingness, or language barrier precluding adequate understanding or cooperation or presence of any condition that in the investigators' opinion may lead to poor adherence to study protocol).
Get updates
Get notified about this study
Sign up to get updates when this study changes or when new studies for Neuropathy, painful diabetic are added.
By submitting, you agree to our Terms of use
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.
-
The places running it
1 site. The list below names each one and where it is.
-
The official record
ClinicalTrials.gov lists the study team's own contact details, including names and phone numbers. We don't republish those.
-
A doctor treating you
A doctor who knows your case can contact a study site on your behalf, and can tell you whether this study is worth pursuing at all.
Contacts and locations
Locations
-
University of Southern Denmark
RECRUITINGOdense, 5230, Denmark