Can Pain Neuroscience Education Combined with Cognition-Targeted Exercise Therapy Change White Matter Structure in People with Chronic Spinal Pain? A Randomized Controlled Trial.

ABSTRACT: Background/Objectives: White matter (WM) structural changes have been found in patients with chronic spinal pain (CSP). In these patients, pain neuroscience education followed by cognition-targeted exercise therapy (i.e., the Modern Pain Neuroscience Approach (MPNA)) was shown to be more effective than biomedically-focused education followed by symptom-contingent exercise therapy for improving clinical outcomes. The present study examined whether an MPNA, compared to biomedically-focused treatment, can change WM structure in regions of interest and whether potential WM structural changes are associated with clinical improvements in patients with CSP. Methods: Patients with CSP were randomized into an experimental (MPNA) or control (biomedically-focused) treatment group. Diffu

SUBMITTER: Coppieters I 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11818553 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature