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Implementation of Evidence-based Guidelines for Assessment and Counseling of Patients With Neck and Back Pain in Health Care Centers (ALIGN)

16. september 2026 opdateret af: Iben Axen, Karolinska Institutet

The overall aim is to investigate the health outcomes and consequences, from an individual and a societal perspective, of adding licensed Manual Therapists as first-contact healthcare providers in Primary Health Care centers to triage (not treat) patients seeking care for Neck and Back Pain.

A hybrid, quasi-experimental Target Trial Emulation design employing mixed methods contextualized to participating Primary Health Care centers will be used.

Neck and Back Pain patients with a physician's appointment at a participating Primary Health Care center will be included and followed one year;

  • 300 patients with care as usual who see their physician (control group),
  • 300 patients who see a licensed naprapath/chiropractor for an initial evidence-based assessment/screening before the physicians' visit.

Patient outcomes include recovery, function and work ability, as well as health economy are compared between the groups.

Studieoversigt

Status

Ikke rekrutterer endnu

Intervention / Behandling

Detaljeret beskrivelse

Many visits to primary healthcare centers (PHCs) concern neck and/or back pain (NBP). Evidence-based clinical guidelines are often not considered, and low-value care, including unnecessary imaging, prescription of medications, injections, unnecessary surgery, and sick leave, is instead used, leading to poor patient outcomes and high societal costs. The primary healthcare system is severely pressured, and there is a need to reduce the burden of this common patient group on the physicians. Licensed naprapaths and chiropractors (manual therapist (MT)) have been part of Swedish healthcare for >30 years, but their competence is seldom utilized at PHCs. MT as first-contact providers within PHCs may reduce the burden of NBP in the population by improving adherence to evidence-based guidelines, reducing the workload on physicians, minimizing unnecessary healthcare procedures, and reducing expenditure.

Patient reported outcomes include pain, function, work ability and satisfaction, and health economy are based on sickness absence, care consumption, referrals and pharmaceutical use will be compared between groups.

Our hypothesis is that the intervention will lead to symptom improvement and work ability, as well as decrease the risk of sickness absence and low value care (sickness absence, care consumption, referrals and pharmaceutical use) for these patients. Thus, we hypothesize positive consequences for the individual and for society.

Advanced epidemiological/statistical methods address confounding when comparing the groups. Physicians' and patients' experiences, facilitators, and barriers to the implementation of the intervention will also be studied.

Undersøgelsestype

Interventionel

Tilmelding (Anslået)

600

Fase

  • Ikke anvendelig

Kontakter og lokationer

Dette afsnit indeholder kontaktoplysninger for dem, der udfører undersøgelsen, og oplysninger om, hvor denne undersøgelse udføres.

Studiekontakt

  • Navn: Iben Axén, PhD
  • Telefonnummer: +46 70 44 00 618
  • E-mail: iben.axen@ki.se

Studiesteder

      • Stockholm, Sverige
        • Karolinska Institutet , Stockholm 171 77 Solna
        • Kontakt:

Deltagelseskriterier

Forskere leder efter personer, der passer til en bestemt beskrivelse, kaldet berettigelseskriterier. Nogle eksempler på disse kriterier er en persons generelle helbredstilstand eller tidligere behandlinger.

Berettigelseskriterier

Aldre berettiget til at studere

  • Voksen
  • Ældre voksen

Tager imod sunde frivillige

Ingen

Beskrivelse

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Patients 18-70 years, with an appointment with a physician at the primary health care center for a new episode of pain or discomfort in the neck, mid-back or lower back with or without radiating symptoms to the head, arms, or leg

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Sick-leave for neck- and backpain the preceding three months (at least 50%), having consulted or been treated by licensed healthcare provider for neck- and backpain during the preceding three months, and not mastering the Swedish language

Studieplan

Dette afsnit indeholder detaljer om studieplanen, herunder hvordan undersøgelsen er designet, og hvad undersøgelsen måler.

Hvordan er undersøgelsen tilrettelagt?

Design detaljer

  • Primært formål: Sundhedstjenesteforskning
  • Tildeling: N/A
  • Interventionel model: Sekventiel tildeling
  • Maskning: Ingen (Åben etiket)

Våben og indgreb

Deltagergruppe / Arm
Intervention / Behandling
Eksperimentel: MT management
The intervention in the index group is a triage performed by the licensed manual therapist, MT: take the anamnesis, perform a clinical assessment and examination (including assessment of fear/avoidance, pain catastrophizing, and expectations), provide a diagnosis, and give the patient recommendations according to evidence-based clinical guidelines, i.e., high-value care. In summary, these guidelines state that patients with no "Red flags" (signs of pathology) or "Yellow flags" (psychological risk factors such as unrealistic beliefs about their pain, catastrophizing, kinesiophobia) shall self-manage when they are adequately informed about their condition and that they need to continue with their usual activities, such as work, physical activity, and social life. The role of the MT is to triage patients according to the best evidence into three groups: those with little or no risk of persistent pain, those with a moderate risk, and those with a substantial risk of a bad prognosis.
The intervention in the index group is a triage performed by the licensed manual teerapeut: take the anamnesis, perform a clinical and assessment formula examination (fear/avoidance, pain catastrophizing, and expectations), provide a diagnosis, and give the patient recommendations according to current evidence-based clinical guidelines. The outcome in this intervention arm will be compared to study participants with "care as usal" included in sthe study earlier.

Hvad måler undersøgelsen?

Primære resultatmål

Resultatmål
Foranstaltningsbeskrivelse
Tidsramme
Patient-perceived Global Perceived Effect
Tidsramme: 12 months
This outcome is measured through a Lickert scale. The single question is: "compared with the start of the trial, how is your [condition] today?" Answers from "completely recovered" to "much worse"
12 months

Sekundære resultatmål

Resultatmål
Foranstaltningsbeskrivelse
Tidsramme
Chronic pain
Tidsramme: 12 months
12 months
Activity limitations
Tidsramme: 12 months
Roland Morris disability questionnaire, Nordic pain questionnaire. These are validated instruments assessing the influence of the condition on everyday activities. Example "my [condition] prevents me from doing household chores" -agree/do not agree. The instrument then results in a score where high scores mean that the condition highly affects daily activities.
12 months
Health-related quality of life
Tidsramme: 12 months
EuorQol-5 dimensions is a validated questionnaire that results in a score between 0 and 1(perfect health).
12 months
Societal costs
Tidsramme: 12 months
Cost related to care consumption, sick-leave, referrals and pharmaceuticals. Self-reported every three months, participants are reporting all care relating to their condition, number of care visits and cost of visits. Travel time is attributed to each care visit. This will also include visits to specialists. They are reporting the number of days they have been off work due to the condition, and all type of medication consumed for their condition.
12 months
Work Ability
Tidsramme: 12 months
Measures the balance between a person's individual resources (such as health, skills, and mental energy) and the actual demands of their job
12 months
sickness absence
Tidsramme: 12 months
The number of days an individual has been off work because of neck and back pain
12 months

Andre resultatmål

Resultatmål
Foranstaltningsbeskrivelse
Tidsramme
Quality of the assessment by manual therapists
Tidsramme: 12 months
A qualitative outcome collected in interviews with healthcare personell and patients
12 months

Samarbejdspartnere og efterforskere

Det er her, du vil finde personer og organisationer, der er involveret i denne undersøgelse.

Samarbejdspartnere

Publikationer og nyttige links

Den person, der er ansvarlig for at indtaste oplysninger om undersøgelsen, leverer frivilligt disse publikationer. Disse kan handle om alt relateret til undersøgelsen.

Generelle publikationer

Datoer for undersøgelser

Disse datoer sporer fremskridtene for indsendelser af undersøgelsesrekord og resumeresultater til ClinicalTrials.gov. Studieregistreringer og rapporterede resultater gennemgås af National Library of Medicine (NLM) for at sikre, at de opfylder specifikke kvalitetskontrolstandarder, før de offentliggøres på den offentlige hjemmeside.

Studer store datoer

Studiestart (Anslået)

1. november 2026

Primær færdiggørelse (Anslået)

31. august 2030

Studieafslutning (Anslået)

31. december 2030

Datoer for studieregistrering

Først indsendt

10. september 2026

Først indsendt, der opfyldte QC-kriterier

16. september 2026

Først opslået (Faktiske)

17. september 2026

Opdateringer af undersøgelsesjournaler

Sidste opdatering sendt (Faktiske)

17. september 2026

Sidste opdatering indsendt, der opfyldte kvalitetskontrolkriterier

16. september 2026

Sidst verificeret

1. september 2026

Mere information

Begreber relateret til denne undersøgelse

Plan for individuelle deltagerdata (IPD)

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UBESLUTET

IPD-planbeskrivelse

In the planning stages of the trial, we have not taken measures to share data. This is due to our ethical permission.

Lægemiddel- og udstyrsoplysninger, undersøgelsesdokumenter

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