Brain-Training app aims to ease back pain without pills
NCT ID NCT05669027
First seen Jun 27, 2026 · Last updated Jun 27, 2026
Summary
This study tests whether a mobile app and headset that train the brain to relax can help people with chronic low back pain. 150 adults will use the app for 10 minutes, four times a week for three months. Researchers will check pain levels and physical function over nine months.
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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 150 people
The number the study aims to enrol. It can still change while the study runs.
- Started
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Oct 2023
- Expected to finish
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May 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 90 years
- Sex
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Anyone
- Healthy volunteers
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Accepted
You do not need to have the condition being studied to take part.
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: 1. Responding greater than 3 months to "How long has low back pain been an ongoing problem for you?" 2. Responding 'at least half the days' to "How often has low back pain been an ongoing problem for you over the past 6 months?" Investigators will follow recommendations to items and responses provided by the NIH Task Force on Research Standards for Chronic Low Back Pain, which specifically: "recommended 2 questions to achieve the definition of chronic low back pain: (1) How long has back pain been an ongoing problem for you? (2) How often has low back pain been an ongoing problem for you over the past 6 months? A response of greater than 3 months to question 1 and a response of 'at least half the days in the past 6 months' to question 2 would define chronic lower back pain." Exclusion Criteria: 1. History of seizures. 2. Planning pain-related surgery in the next 9 months. 3. Individuals with implanted medical devices that could experience interference during EEG and/or ECG, such as a spinal cord stimulator or pacemaker. 4. Lower back pain is associated with compensation or litigation issues. 5. Rating of past week pain intensity\<4 on 0-10 point scale. 6. Rating of past week pain interference\<4 on 0-10 point scale.
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Genom att skicka in godkänner du våra Användarvillkor
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 study's own enquiry address
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The places running it
1 site. The list below names each one and where it is.
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The official record
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A doctor treating you
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Contacts and locations
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Genom att skicka in godkänner du våra Användarvillkor
Locations
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Duke University Medical Center, Department of Psychiatry
RECRUITINGDurham, North Carolina, 27705, United States
Contact Email: •••••@•••••
More trials for these conditions
Other studies related to the condition(s) this trial covers.
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- Can naming your feelings predict back pain relief?
- Scientists map the daily rhythms of chronic pain
- Can yoga ease back pain when recovery looks unlikely?
- Can exercise retraining rewire the nervous system in chronic back pain?
- Can gentle back vibration reset the Brain's pain response?