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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 oppdatert av: 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.

Studieoversikt

Status

Har ikke rekruttert ennå

Intervensjon / Behandling

Detaljert 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.

Studietype

Intervensjonell

Registrering (Antatt)

600

Fase

  • Ikke aktuelt

Kontakter og plasseringer

Denne delen inneholder kontaktinformasjon for de som utfører studien, og informasjon om hvor denne studien blir utført.

Studiekontakt

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

Studiesteder

      • Stockholm, Sverige
        • Karolinska Institutet , Stockholm 171 77 Solna
        • Ta kontakt med:

Deltakelseskriterier

Forskere ser etter personer som passer til en bestemt beskrivelse, kalt kvalifikasjonskriterier. Noen eksempler på disse kriteriene er en persons generelle helsetilstand eller tidligere behandlinger.

Kvalifikasjonskriterier

Alder som er kvalifisert for studier

  • Voksen
  • Eldre voksen

Tar imot friske frivillige

Nei

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

Denne delen gir detaljer om studieplanen, inkludert hvordan studien er utformet og hva studien måler.

Hvordan er studiet utformet?

Designdetaljer

  • Primært formål: Helsetjenesteforskning
  • Tildeling: N/A
  • Intervensjonsmodell: Sekvensiell tildeling
  • Masking: Ingen (Open Label)

Våpen og intervensjoner

Deltakergruppe / Arm
Intervensjon / Behandling
Eksperimentell: 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.

Hva måler studien?

Primære resultatmål

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

Samarbeidspartnere og etterforskere

Det er her du vil finne personer og organisasjoner som er involvert i denne studien.

Samarbeidspartnere

Publikasjoner og nyttige lenker

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Generelle publikasjoner

Studierekorddatoer

Disse datoene sporer fremdriften for innsending av studieposter og sammendragsresultater til ClinicalTrials.gov. Studieposter og rapporterte resultater gjennomgås av National Library of Medicine (NLM) for å sikre at de oppfyller spesifikke kvalitetskontrollstandarder før de legges ut på det offentlige nettstedet.

Studer hoveddatoer

Studiestart (Antatt)

1. november 2026

Primær fullføring (Antatt)

31. august 2030

Studiet fullført (Antatt)

31. desember 2030

Datoer for studieregistrering

Først innsendt

10. september 2026

Først innsendt som oppfylte QC-kriteriene

16. september 2026

Først lagt ut (Faktiske)

17. september 2026

Oppdateringer av studieposter

Sist oppdatering lagt ut (Faktiske)

17. september 2026

Siste oppdatering sendt inn som oppfylte QC-kriteriene

16. september 2026

Sist bekreftet

1. september 2026

Mer informasjon

Begreper knyttet til denne studien

Plan for individuelle deltakerdata (IPD)

Planlegger du å dele individuelle deltakerdata (IPD)?

UBESLUTTE

IPD-planbeskrivelse

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

Legemiddel- og utstyrsinformasjon, studiedokumenter

Studerer et amerikansk FDA-regulert medikamentprodukt

Nei

Studerer et amerikansk FDA-regulert enhetsprodukt

Nei

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