Back Pain - Linking Phenotype to Pain Mechanism and Outcome.

February 25, 2026 updated by: Balgrist University Hospital
To investigate whether different clinical, psychophysical and neurophysiological phenotypes can be identified among low back pain patients

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Low back pain patients will fill in a detailed questionnaire (incl. pain drawing) about their pain. Some of them will undergo a standardized quantitative sensory testing protocol and an fMRI procedure.

Study Type

Observational

Enrollment (Actual)

150

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • Switzerland
    • Canton of Zurich
      • Zurich, Canton of Zurich, Switzerland, 8008
        • Balgrist University Hospital

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years to 80 years (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Sampling Method

Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

Patients between 18 and 80 with low back pain

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

-primary complaint: low back pain clinically not attributable to red flags

Exclusion Criteria:

  • any major medical or psychiatric condition that affects pain sensitivity
  • contraindications to MRI

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

Cohorts and Interventions

Group / Cohort
Intervention / Treatment
low back pain patients
no intervention
Other: no intervention, observational
no intervention, observational
controls
no intervention
Other: no intervention, observational
no intervention, observational

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
spatial pain extent
Time Frame: baseline
spatial pain extent (body map)
baseline
measures for central sensitization
Time Frame: baseline
temporal summation and conditioned pain modulation
baseline

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
changes in spatial pain extent
Time Frame: changes from baseline to 3 months
changes in spatial pain extent (bodymap)
changes from baseline to 3 months
changes in measures for central sensitization
Time Frame: changes from baseline to 3 months
changes in temporal summation and conditioned pain modulation
changes from baseline to 3 months

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Balgrist University Hospital

Collaborators

University of Zurich

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Petra Schweinhardt, MD, PhD, Balgrist University Hospital

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

November 1, 2019

Primary Completion (Actual)

June 3, 2025

Study Completion (Actual)

June 3, 2025

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

September 21, 2019

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

June 12, 2020

First Posted (Actual)

June 16, 2020

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

February 27, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

February 25, 2026

Last Verified

October 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 2019-00136

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

UNDECIDED

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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