Effects of Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation on Pain Thresholds in Patients With Chronic Low Back Pain
Public ClinicalTrials.gov record NCT03973788. Field values are reproduced from the official study page; the official ClinicalTrials.gov record remains the source of truth for eligibility, enrollment, and contact information.
Data is sourced from official ClinicalTrials.gov public API records. Always review the official ClinicalTrials.gov record for the latest information.
Official title
Immediate and Short-term Effects of Single-session Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation on Pain Thresholds In Patients With Chronic Low Back Pain - A Pilot Study
Brief summary
Reproduced verbatim from the official ClinicalTrials.gov record. Not medical advice.
Chronic low back pain (CLBP) is a common reason for which patients are treated with opioids. Because the misuse of prescription opioids has become a serious problem in the Uinted States, finding effective alternative non-pharmaceutical interventions for chronic pain management has become an urgent matter. A phenomenon termed central sensitization (i.e. mal-adaption of the brain) has been hypothesized to be an underlying mechanism for the development of chronic pain, leading to sensory hypersensitivity to extremal stimuli. Therefore, non-invasive brain stimulation, such as repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) may be an effective intervention to regulate brain excitability, thus reducing chronic pain. However, research has shown inconclusive evidence regarding the rTMS effects on chronic pain reduction, partly due to the heterogeneity of participants in studies to date. Therefore, the primary purpose of this study is to investigate the immediate and short-term effects of rTMS on neurosensory changes (i.e., pain thresholds) in patients with CLBP. The secondary purpuse of the study is to explore the relationship between changes of cortical excitability (TMS parameters) and changes of pain thresholds after the rTMS intervention in patients with CLBP.
Study identification
- NCT ID
- NCT03973788
- Recruitment status
- Completed
- Study type
- Interventional
- Phase
- Not applicable
- Enrollment
- 40 participants
Conditions and interventions
Conditions
Eligibility (public fields only)
- Age range
- 18 Years and older
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Accepts healthy volunteers
This page does not interpret eligibility. Detailed inclusion and exclusion criteria are on the official ClinicalTrials.gov record.
Study timeline
- Start date
- Jun 30, 2019
- Primary completion
- Jan 30, 2021
- Completion
- Jan 12, 2022
- Last update posted
- Jan 8, 2026
2019 – 2022
United States locations
- U.S. sites
- 1
- U.S. states
- 1
- U.S. cities
- 1
| Facility | City | State | ZIP | Site status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Texas Woman's University | Dallas | Texas | 75235 | — |
Site contact phone numbers, emails, and investigator names are intentionally not displayed here. Open the official ClinicalTrials.gov record for site contact information.
About this trial record page
- What this page shows
- Public field values for ClinicalTrials.gov record NCT03973788, including study identification, conditions, interventions, eligibility (age, sex, healthy volunteer), timeline, and U.S. site list.
- What this page does not do
- No medical advice, eligibility judgments, treatment recommendations, study quality scoring, or AI-generated medical summaries. No site contact phone numbers, emails, or investigator names.
- Where the data comes from
- Sourced from the official ClinicalTrials.gov public API. The official record is the source of truth.
- Last refresh
- Last update posted Jan 8, 2026 · Synced Sep 3, 2026
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Open the official record
The complete protocol, eligibility criteria, and contact information for NCT03973788 live on ClinicalTrials.gov.