Attentional Focus Strategies in Exercise in Patients With Myofascial Pain Syndrome

NCT ID: NCT06248372

Last Updated: 2024-02-08

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: NOT_YET_RECRUITING
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 34 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2024-01-30
• Study Completion Date: 2024-09-01

Brief Summary

Attentional focus is a concept of motor learning and the usage of this concept promotes exercise-induced muscular adaptations and affects motor performances. In practice,two main verbal instructions are directing the focus of attention; external focus (EFA) and internal focus of attention (IFA). Several studies show the results related with different health conditions. However, there is not enough studies to investigate the effectiveness of these attentional focus strategies in exercise regimes in patients with musculoskeletal problem. Thus, the study will be the first to investigate the effectiveness of attentional focus strategies in patients with neck and upper back myofascial pain syndrome (MPS) which is the most common syndrome of musculoskeletal problems.

Detailed Description

When investigating the literature studies, there is insufficient evidence to determine which attentional focus strategies are more effective for improving function and decreasing pain in different health conditions. In most of the studies duration of symptoms of patients was not mentioned and there are no studies that directly compare EFA and IFA and report the effects on pain or functional outcomes in musculoskeletal conditions.Additionally, one study investigated the effectiveness of attentional focus strategies used in a training program but not in a musculoskeletal problem.

Thus, the study aims to investigate the effectiveness of attentional focus strategies in patients with neck and upper back MPS in terms of pain, pressure pain threshold, quality of life, depression, disability, and posture parameters.

Conditions

Myofascial Pain Syndrome

Study Design

• Allocation Method: RANDOMIZED
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Primary Study Purpose: TREATMENT
• Blinding Strategy: SINGLE

Study Groups

External Focus Group (EFG)

Receive exercise program that includes strengthening and stretching exercises however this group will focus on environmental cues apart from body movement by using metaphors or analogies.

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Exercise

Intervention Type: OTHER

Both groups will receive the same exercise program that includes strengthening and stretching exercises except for the verbal instructions which shift attention to the internal or external environment or no attentional instructions for the control group.

Internal Focused Group (IFG)

Receive exercise program that includes strengthening and stretching exercises however this group will follow internal cues directing attention to the body movement (i.e., joint movement) while doing exercises.

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Exercise

Intervention Type: OTHER

Both groups will receive the same exercise program that includes strengthening and stretching exercises except for the verbal instructions which shift attention to the internal or external environment or no attentional instructions for the control group.

Control Group (CG)

Receive exercise program that includes strengthening and stretching exercises however, this group will not focus on any attentional cues while doing exercises.

Group Type: OTHER

Exercise

Intervention Type: OTHER

Both groups will receive the same exercise program that includes strengthening and stretching exercises except for the verbal instructions which shift attention to the internal or external environment or no attentional instructions for the control group.

Interventions

Exercise

Both groups will receive the same exercise program that includes strengthening and stretching exercises except for the verbal instructions which shift attention to the internal or external environment or no attentional instructions for the control group.

Intervention Type: OTHER

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• Symptomatic MPS in the neck and upper back region (upper and middle trapezius, levator scapulae, rhomboids, infraspinatus, and supraspinatus muscles) confirmed by a physician,
• Pain lasting more than 3 months with a pain intensity is 3 or higher according to numeric pain rating scale (NPRS⩾3).

Exclusion Criteria

• Fibromyalgia syndrome, cervical disc pathologies, malignancy, neurologic and/or inflammatory diseases, history of neck, shoulder, upper back surgery and trauma, other medical conditions that limit participation in exercise.
• Pregnancy
• Individuals being involved in physiotherapy or exercise sessions for at least 4 weeks

• Minimum Eligible Age: 18 Years
• Maximum Eligible Age: 65 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Sponsors

Yeditepe University

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Yagmur Barlas

Master Degree Student

Responsibility Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Central Contacts

Yağmur Barlas

Role: CONTACT

yagmurbarlas04@gmail.com

05301454416

Elif Tuğçe Çil

Role: CONTACT

elif.cil@yeditepe.edu.tr

0554 481 10 92

Other Identifiers

Yagmur

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id