Feasibility of a Mind-Body Program for Chronic Pain: A Randomized Clinical Trial

Area of Science:

• Pain Management Research
• Clinical Trial Feasibility
• Health Disparities in Healthcare

Background:

• Improving physical function in chronic pain is challenging, with trials often lacking diversity and comprehensive function measures.
• Existing pain trials have not fully assessed multimodal physical function or included diverse populations.

Purpose of the Study:

• To test the feasibility of a mind-body walking program and a health education program.
• To assess these programs in geographically, racially, and ethnically diverse sedentary adults with chronic pain.

Main Methods:

• A single-blind, 2-arm feasibility randomized clinical trial was conducted across three diverse US academic medical centers.
• Participants with chronic musculoskeletal pain were randomized to either a mind-body walking program or a health education program.
• Feasibility was assessed through recruitment, retention, diversity, treatment credibility, expectancy, satisfaction, and fidelity benchmarks.

Main Results:

• Both interventions met feasibility benchmarks for treatment arms, credibility, fidelity, and retention.
• The mind-body walking program met expectancy and satisfaction benchmarks, while the health education program did not.
• The study successfully met racial and ethnic diversity benchmarks but not the recruitment benchmark.

Conclusions:

• Both mind-body walking and health education programs demonstrated feasibility in diverse populations across multiple academic medical centers.
• The results provide support for future, fully powered efficacy trials of these interventions.
• This study highlights the importance of diverse recruitment in clinical trials for chronic pain.