Acceptance and Commitment Therapy Plus Exercise for Older People With Chronic Low-back Pain: A Pragmatic Cluster Randomised Controlled Trial

Recruiting now · Not applicable

Conditions studied: Chronic Low-back Pain (cLBP)

In brief

Low back pain (LBP) is the fifth-most common disorder among older adults 60 years or older. The prevalence of LBP increases with age, with the highest prevalence occurring at 85 years old. Because many older individuals face various age-related life challenges (e.g., comorbidities, financial difficulties, and bereavement), the addition of chronic LBP (CLBP) to existing stressors may worsen their physical and psychological well-being. Unfortunately, CLBP is difficult to manage and is refractory to many existing treatments. Physiotherapy treatments alone show only modest improvements in LBP or LBP-related disability. Recent research has shown that proper pain self-management is crucial to reduce pain and disability in individuals with CLBP. Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), a new mindfulness-based therapy, has been suggested for chronic pain management. ACT improves an individual's psychological flexibility, by improving their openness, awareness, and acceptance of the present moment (including pain). Combining ACT and exercise classes has the potential to improve the latter treatment's efficacy. Our recent pragmatic pilot, 2-arm cluster randomised controlled trial (RCT) on 40 older adults with CLBP revealed that eight weeks of ACT plus exercise and an 8-week back care education plus exercise program (control group) were safe, feasible, and well accepted by participants in elderly community centres. Moreover, compared to the control group, the ACT-plus-exercise group showed significantly greater improvements in pain intensity, LBP-related disability, health-related quality of life (HRQOL), and psychological flexibility immediately after treatment. These promising preliminary findings indicate that a fully powered clinical trial is warranted.

Key facts

Study ID

NCT07211464

Run by

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

People needed

100

Starts

2025-09-01

Expected to finish

2028-08-31

Last updated by the study team

2025-10-08

Who can join

Age: 60 and older. Sex: any. Healthy volunteers: not accepted.

You may qualify if…

• aged 60 or above
• have had non-specific LBP in or near the lumbosacral spine, with or without leg pain, that lasts for at least 3 months in the last 12 months
• Average pain intensity (in the past week) ≥ 4 on a scale of 0 to 10
• must have sought some healthcare professional treatments for CLBP in the last 12 months
• have an adequate level of proficiency in Chinese
• Mini-Mental Status Examination (MMSE) scores: 23 or above

You may not qualify if…

• People with malignant pain or lumbar spinal stenosis, confirmed dementia, severe cognitive impairment, or serious psychiatric or psychological disorders that may hinder their study participation will be excluded
• Individuals with Mini-Mental Status Examination (MMSE) scores below 23

Where it is running

• The Hong Kong Polytechnic University — Hong Kong, Hong Kong (enrolling)

Full record on ClinicalTrials.gov

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