Self-Administered Acupressure for Veterans With Chronic Back Pain

Completed · Not applicable

Conditions studied: Low Back Pain

In brief

Many Veterans experience chronic pain, with back pain the most commonly reported condition. The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) is moving from reliance on medications to an approach in which non-medication interventions, including complementary and integrative health treatments, are now a first line of care. Acupressure, a Traditional Chinese Medicine technique derived from acupuncture, is emerging as a potentially effective approach for treating several chronic pain conditions and could prove beneficial in helping Veterans manage their chronic low back pain. This study will determine the effectiveness of self-administered acupressure to treat chronic low back pain. 300 Veterans will be invited to participate in the study. All participants will be asked to attend an introduction to acupressure class and complete a survey when they join the study and again at 6 weeks and 10 weeks. The survey measures assess important outcomes, such as how pain interferes with daily function, as well as other areas that can be affected by pain such as fatigue and sleep quality. After completing the first survey, half of the participants will receive a tablet computer with an app that shows them how to self-administer acupressure for low back pain and will be asked to do daily acupressure sessions for the next 6 weeks. The other half of the participants will receive the tablet computer with the app approximately 10 weeks after completing the final survey based assessment. The investigators anticipate that outcomes will be improved after 6 weeks of acupressure practice, and these improvements will persist for the following 4 weeks.

Key facts

Study ID

NCT05423145

Run by

VA Office of Research and Development

People needed

297

Starts

2022-10-03

Expected to finish

2026-03-30

Last updated by the study team

2026-04-02

Who can join

Age: 18 and older. Sex: any. Healthy volunteers: not accepted.

You may qualify if…

• Veterans enrolled at VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System
• non-specific low back pain confirmed through electronic medical records (i.e., ICD-10 codes: M54.5, M54.40, 41, 42, M54.89)
• reported pain severity of 4/10 that has persisted for at least 3 months and present on most days
• medically stable (no hospitalizations in the past month lasting 3 or more days)
• no changes in pain medication regimen in past 4 weeks
• no planned surgery or injections for back pain during the next 10 weeks

You may not qualify if…

• pregnant
• had back surgery in the past 2 years
• received acupuncture or acupressure in past 3 months
• evidence of cognitive impairment that could interfere with the ability to provide consent and follow the study protocol (defined as a score of 3 using the Callahan et al. 6-item screener)

Where it is running

• VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System, Ann Arbor, MI — Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States

Full record on ClinicalTrials.gov

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