Chronic Pain Clinical Trials

This is a study designed to examine the neurochemical mechanisms associated with Cannabidiol (CBD) versus placebo for chronic non-cancer pain. Read Less

This study will examine the pain-relieving effects of a transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulator device called a Quell for persons with multiple chronic overlapping pain conditions. Read Less

The heightened vulnerability to COVID-19 of African American older adults in Detroit, Michigan and other marginalized communities is linked to systemic racism experienced over the life course. Structural inequities also magnify the pandemic's impact on older adults' physical and psychosocial functioning. Many older adults in Detroit, burdened by poor health even before the pandemic, face a downward spiral of increased distress, reduced physical and social activity, and physical deconditioning. RESET (Re-Engaging in Self-care, Enjoying Today) is a self-management and resilience-building intervention led by community health workers (CHWs) at the Detroit Health Department (DHD). The central hypothesis of this study is that RESET, with components that include group telephone calls, a podcast series, and activity trackers, will improve psychosocial and physical functioning at 2 and 8 months. Specific aims are: 1) With input from a Community Advisory Board, modify RESET for group delivery and refine content after testing in a mini-pilot (n=10). 2) Conduct a randomized, controlled trial to assess the impact of RESET (compared to a one-time /telephone wellness check) on PROMIS-29 Psychosocial Score (a weighted combination of distress, fatigue, pain, social participation and sleep) among 456 primarily African American older adults age 50 and over who are at elevated risk of poor functioning. 3) Collect qualitative (interview) data from participants and other stakeholders, and use this data to better understand trial results, as well as to assess community impact and inform a dissemination toolkit. Read Less

The purpose of this research study is to gain a better understanding of how people's racial background and socioeconomic status (e.g., income, education, and employment) impact their experiences of chronic low back pain (cLBP). Read Less

The goal of this study is to test Kindolor in healthy adults. The main questions it aims to answer are: What is the safe dose of Kindolor in healthy volunteers? How is Kindolor metabolized by the human body? Participants will undergo medical tests before and after receiving Kindolor or a placebo to see if there is any difference between the groups. Read Less

This study addresses the timely problem of painful temporomandibular disorders (TMD), the most common cause of orofacial pain second only to tooth pain. Findings from previous studies suggest that dysregulation of connectivity within specific brain circuits is part of chronic pain pathophysiology. This study will identify connectivity patterns within those brain circuits as potential signatures for pain- related disability in chronic TMD pain participants. New knowledge regarding these brain connectivity patterns is expected to be significant because it will support improved phenotyping of this heterogeneous participant population. It is also expected that this finding can potentially be extrapolated to other chronic pain conditions, such as back pain, migraine headache, and fibromyalgia that are frequently comorbid conditions in chronic TMD participants. Read Less

This study will be a single-site, two-arm randomized controlled trial conducted among Spanish-speaking chronic pain patients. Chronic pain patients will be randomized by a computer-generated randomization schedule with simple random allocation (1:1) to either One MORE or a wait-list control condition (WLC). One MORE will be delivered individually either in-person or via a HIPAA compliant virtual meeting platform. Read Less

The goal of this study is to test two behavioral interventions for chronic insomnia in individuals with chronic pain and use prescribed opioid medication to treat their chronic pain. Read Less

The purpose of this study is to evaluate whether or not mindfulness-based interventions/MBIs may help reduce chronic pain in participants who have cancer-related chronic pain. MBIs are therapeutic programs that use mindfulness meditation practices to help people focus on the present moment, as well as encourage acceptance of thoughts, emotions, and body sensations. The researchers think that an MBI treatment called Mindfulness-oriented Recovery Enhancement (MORE) may help people who are experiencing cancer-related chronic pain. Read Less

The investigators plan to develop and pilot test an integrated, web-based cognitive behavioral approach and then conduct a randomized clinical trial evaluating its efficacy relative to standard care in a large and diverse sample of individuals with chronic pain treated with buprenorphine or methadone. The new program will retain key components of Dr. Carroll's computer-based training for cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT4CBT), including its emphasis on teaching cognitive and behavioral coping skills in an engaging way and focus on the 5 A's of MAT (Adherence, Attendance, Abstinence, Alternate Activities and Accessing support); it will add components from Dr. Heapy's COPES (Cooperative Pain Education and Self-Management) intervention (self-management of chronic pain, with daily surveys via text that monitor pain intensity and interference, physical activity, and skills practice) and modify existing CBT4CBT modules to address the complex interplay between pain and drug use in this population, emphasizing the development of generalizable skills. A randomized clinical trial evaluating CBT4CBT-COPES will be conducted in a diverse sample 160 of individuals enrolled in agonist treatment (methadone or buprenorphine) who have chronic pain, in a 3-month randomized clinical trial with a 6-month follow-up, comparing it to standard treatment alone. The primary retention outcome will be adherence with agonist treatment; the primary pain outcome will be the PROMIS 6-item Pain Interference Short Form. Read Less

Chronic pain is associated with plasticity in the brain limbic system composed mainly of the amygdala, hippocampus, ventral striatum, and cingulate cortex (ACC) /medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). These brain areas, especially the ventral striatum, receive dopaminergic input from the ventral-tegmental area (VTA). Although there is a significant literature now showing that limbic brain tracks chronic pain intensity and predicts the risk of transition from sub-acute to chronic pain, the role of dopaminergic input to the limbic brain and the change thereof which occurs in chronic pain, is still not clear. Given the role of dopamine in motivational control and the loss of motivation associated with chronic pain understanding how dopaminergic transmission is altered in the limbic brain of chronic pain patients is critical to the understanding of the pathophysiology of chronic pain. Therefore, the overall aim of this project is to use brain imaging to study how dopaminergic transmission through the oral administration of pro-dopaminergic medications carbidopa/levodopa (CD/LD) and methylphenidate will modulate the brain signature of chronic pain. Chronic pain subjects will be scanned twice before and after treatment with the two drugs or placebo. The protocol will follow a randomized double-blind approach. Read Less

Chronic non-cancer pain is common among Veterans, and more work is needed to understand how best to support Veterans with chronic pain to improve pain-related function and quality of life. Peer specialists may be valuable resource to support Veterans in pain management. Peer specialists, individuals with lived experience who are hired and trained to work with Veterans, are increasingly being used outside traditional mental health settings. More research is needed to understand how best to train peer specialists to work in new settings and with new presenting problems, such as chronic pain. Peer support to help Veterans improve pain-related function, increase physical activity, and engage in recommended pain care, is especially needed. In this study, the investigators will finalize a peer-led intervention and then pilot it with 24 Veterans with chronic pain in order to establish feasibility and acceptability; results will be used to develop a larger proposal testing the intervention in a randomized trial. Read Less