Telerehabilitation vs. Home Exercise in Piriformis Syndrome: A Comparative Study (PIRI-REHAB)

April 15, 2026 updated by: Tezel Yıldırım Şahan, Hacettepe University

COMPARISON OF THE EFFECTS OF ASYNCHRONOUS TELEREHABILITATION AND HOME EXERCISE PROGRAM ON PAIN, PAIN FEAR, FUNCTIONALITY, AND PERFORMANCE IN INDIVIDUALS WITH PIRIFORMIS SYNDROME

The aim of this study is to compare the effects of asynchronous telerehabilitation and home exercise programs on pain, fear of pain, functionality, and performance in individuals with piriformis syndrome.

Study Overview

Status

Enrolling by invitation

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

In this randomized controlled trial, performance has been determined as the primary outcome measure. Pain, functionality, and fear of pain have been determined as secondary outcome measures. A 6-week asynchronous telerehabilitation protocol is planned for patients with Piriformis Syndrome, with a home program serving as the control group. Informed consent forms will be obtained from participants. Participants will be enrolled at the Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Home Exercise Program Clinic of Kocaeli City Hospital Physical Therapy Hospital and the study will commence after obtaining ethical committee approval. The Helsinki Principles will be adhered to for individuals included in the study.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

46

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

  • Turkey (Türkiye)
    • Kecioren
      • Ankara, Kecioren, Turkey (Türkiye), 06018
        • Saglik Bilimleri University

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

  • Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Be between the ages of 18 and 45,
  • Be willing to participate in the study,
  • Have been diagnosed with piriformis syndrome by a specialist doctor,
  • Have positive Fair and Lasegue tests,
  • Have pain between 3 and 9 on the Numerical Pain Scale,

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Bilateral pain,
  • Having a systemic disease,
  • Recent injury to the lower extremity, having undergone surgery, having a pathology,
  • Sacroiliac joint dysfunction, disc herniation, facet joint problem
  • Having congenital problems,
  • Having cognitive problems,

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: Double

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Active Comparator: physical performance
Participants evaluted with 5 times sit stand test
Behavioral: Home exercise programme
Applications to be used for telerehabilitation: Musclewiki, YouTube (Medstar Health) may be used. Participants will be directed to exercise for 45 minutes, 3 days a week, via recorded videos sent to them. The difficulty level of the exercises is planned to increase every two weeks.
Behavioral: telerehabilitation
Applications to be used for telerehabilitation: Musclewiki, YouTube (Medstar Health) may be used. Participants will be directed to exercise for 45 minutes, 3 days a week, via recorded videos sent to them. The difficulty level of the exercises is planned to increase every two weeks.
Active Comparator: pain
Pain levels of participants will evaluated
Behavioral: Home exercise programme
Applications to be used for telerehabilitation: Musclewiki, YouTube (Medstar Health) may be used. Participants will be directed to exercise for 45 minutes, 3 days a week, via recorded videos sent to them. The difficulty level of the exercises is planned to increase every two weeks.
Behavioral: telerehabilitation
Applications to be used for telerehabilitation: Musclewiki, YouTube (Medstar Health) may be used. Participants will be directed to exercise for 45 minutes, 3 days a week, via recorded videos sent to them. The difficulty level of the exercises is planned to increase every two weeks.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Physical performance
Time Frame: before and after 8 week exercise programme
The Timed Up and Go Test (TUG) measures the time it takes for an individual to stand up from a chair upon command, walk around a point 3 meters away, and return to sit in the chair. A time exceeding 15 seconds indicates a risk of falling.
before and after 8 week exercise programme

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
pain catastrophise
Time Frame: before and after the 8 week exercise programme
This is a questionnaire developed to measure how much people are driven to disaster in response to pain. The questionnaire lists 13 situations using a 5-point Likert scale (0-4) that describes different feelings and thoughts that may be related to pain. The total score can range from 0 to 52. It consists of 3 subfactors: helplessness, magnification, rumination. High scale scores are associated with more pain and more functional impairment.
before and after the 8 week exercise programme

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

Hacettepe University

Collaborators

Saglik Bilimleri Universitesi
Kocaeli City 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)

March 1, 2026

Primary Completion (Estimated)

September 1, 2026

Study Completion (Estimated)

May 30, 2027

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

March 25, 2026

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

March 25, 2026

First Posted (Actual)

March 31, 2026

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

April 20, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 15, 2026

Last Verified

April 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 2026-333

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

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.

Clinical Trials on Exercise Training

Clinical Trials on Home exercise programme

Search Similar Trials

Sponsors and Collaborators

Medical Conditions

Drug Interventions

CROs by country

CROs in Kazakhstan

Conditions

Rare Diseases

Drug Interventions

Dietary Supplements

Sponsor/Collaborators

Locations

Subscribe