Combining Non-invasive Brain Stimulation and Exercise to Treat Low Back Pain

January 16, 2026 updated by: Hugo Massé-Alarie

Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Alone and in Combination With Motor Control Exercise for the Treatment of Patients With Chronic Non-specific Low Back Pain (ExTraStim Trial): Study Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial

The aim of this study is to evaluate the efficacy of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation alone and in combination with motor control exercises on pain and disability for patients with chronic non-specific low back pain.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

140

Phase

  • Not Applicable

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

  • Canada
    • Quebec
      • Québec, Quebec, Canada, G1M 2S8
        • Cirris (Centre Interdisciplinaire de Recherche en Réadaptation et Intégration Sociale)

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 and older (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • chronic low back pain, defined as "pain in the low back area with or without leg pain above the knee limiting activities or daily routine which has been present for more than 3 months";
  • a minimal average pain intensity of 3 out of 10 during the preceding week on a pain numerical rating scale;
  • a minimal score of 10 points on the Oswestry disability index (ODI).

Exclusion Criteria:

  • specific spinal pathology (fracture, tumor, radiculopathy, spinal infection, etc.);
  • a history of back surgery;
  • a major orthopedic, neurological, cardiovascular or psychiatric illness;
  • low back pain is not the main pain complaint;
  • currently using an exercise program to treat their LBP;
  • presenting with any specific TMS/rTMS-related exclusion criteria such as previous seizure/convulsion, cochlear implant, specific medication and pregnancy;
  • previous use of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation.

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

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Single

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Active rTMS + Motor control exercises
Active (real) repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (20 minutes), immediately followed by a session of motor control exercises taught and supervised by a physiotherapist (30 minutes).
Device: Active rTMS

A figure-of-8 coil connected to a biphasic Magstim Rapid 2 stimulator (The MagstimCo, Whitland, UK) will be used. Coil orientation and position will be guided throughout the experiment by a neuronavigation system (Brainsight, Rogue research, Montreal, QC, Canada). The intensity of rTMS will be set at 95 % of the first dorsal interosseous (FDI) resting motor threshold (RMT).

Active rTMS will consist of 40 trains of 5 seconds each at 10 Hz (25-s intertrain interval) applied over M1 (on FDI cortical representation), for a total of 2000 stimulations lasting 20 minutes.

Other Names:
  • Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation
Other: Motor Control Exercises
The rehabilitation program will consist of a 30-minute session of motor control exercises following the rTMS (Active or Sham) intervention. This approach aims to improve spine health through the optimization of spine loading. The first session will be preceded by an individualized evaluation of the participant's abilities and deficiencies to tailor the training program to each participant.
Sham Comparator: Sham rTMS + Motor control exercises
Sham repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (20 minutes), immediately followed by a session of motor control exercises taught and supervised by a physiotherapist (30 minutes).
Other: Motor Control Exercises
The rehabilitation program will consist of a 30-minute session of motor control exercises following the rTMS (Active or Sham) intervention. This approach aims to improve spine health through the optimization of spine loading. The first session will be preceded by an individualized evaluation of the participant's abilities and deficiencies to tailor the training program to each participant.
Device: Sham rTMS
A sham coil will be use (e.g. equipped with a magnetic shield that blocks the magnetic field). The sham stimulation will last the same duration as the active rTMS (30 min).
Other Names:
  • Sham Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation
Experimental: Active rTMS
Active (real) repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (20 minutes).
Device: Active rTMS

A figure-of-8 coil connected to a biphasic Magstim Rapid 2 stimulator (The MagstimCo, Whitland, UK) will be used. Coil orientation and position will be guided throughout the experiment by a neuronavigation system (Brainsight, Rogue research, Montreal, QC, Canada). The intensity of rTMS will be set at 95 % of the first dorsal interosseous (FDI) resting motor threshold (RMT).

Active rTMS will consist of 40 trains of 5 seconds each at 10 Hz (25-s intertrain interval) applied over M1 (on FDI cortical representation), for a total of 2000 stimulations lasting 20 minutes.

Other Names:
  • Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation
Sham Comparator: Sham rTMS
Sham repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (20 minutes).
Device: Sham rTMS
A sham coil will be use (e.g. equipped with a magnetic shield that blocks the magnetic field). The sham stimulation will last the same duration as the active rTMS (30 min).
Other Names:
  • Sham Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Pain intensity (average pain over the last week)
Time Frame: Change from baseline to 4 weeks, 8 weeks, 12 weeks and 24 weeks
Pain score on a 11-point pain numerical rating scale (PNRS) ranging from 0 to 10, with 0 meaning no pain and 10 the worst pain imaginable.
Change from baseline to 4 weeks, 8 weeks, 12 weeks and 24 weeks

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Disability (ODI)
Time Frame: Change from baseline to 4 weeks, 8 weeks, 12 weeks and 24 weeks
The Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) version 2.1 is a self-completed questionnaire giving a subjective percentage score of disability. Includes 10 questions rated on a 6-item scale, from 0 to 5 points. The total score ranges from "0" (No disability) to "100" (Maximal disability).
Change from baseline to 4 weeks, 8 weeks, 12 weeks and 24 weeks
Tampa scale of kinesiophobia (TSK)
Time Frame: Change from baseline to 8 weeks, 12 weeks and 24 weeks
TSK is used to assess pain-related fear of movement with a 17-item questionnaire. Each item is scored on a 4-point Likert scale. Total score ranges from 17 (minimal pain-related fear of movement) to 58 (maximal pain-related fear of movement).
Change from baseline to 8 weeks, 12 weeks and 24 weeks
Global rating of change
Time Frame: Change from baseline to 8 weeks
A 11-point scale ranging from -5 to 5, to evaluate the perceived change of health status after the intervention.
Change from baseline to 8 weeks

Other Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Brain imaging using MRI metrics
Time Frame: Baseline

Resting-state fMRI and diffusion MRI imaging will be acquired on a 3T Philips Scanner (Achieva 3.0T (TX), Philips Healthcare Medical Systems, Best, Netherlands) with an 15-channel head coil.

Functional and anatomic connection will be assessed between several regions of interest including: the primary motor cortex and the thalamus, the thalamus and the periaqueductal gray, the nucleus accumbens and the medial prefrontal cortex, the uncinate fasciculus.
Baseline

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

Hugo Massé-Alarie

Collaborators

Pfizer
Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR)
The Canadian Pain Society

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Hugo Massé-Alarie, PhD, Laval University

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)

September 25, 2020

Primary Completion (Actual)

March 1, 2024

Study Completion (Actual)

March 1, 2024

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

September 14, 2020

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

September 14, 2020

First Posted (Actual)

September 18, 2020

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

January 20, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

January 16, 2026

Last Verified

January 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 2020-1844

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.

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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