Feasibility of At-Home Telehealth Yoga for Treating Chronic Pain

Palo Alto Veterans Institute for Research

Status: Completed

Conditions: Musculoskeletal Pain; Chronic Pain

Treatments: Behavioral: In-person yoga; Combination Product: Teleyoga

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other; NIH

Identifiers

NCT04074109

R34AT010364 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

BAY0006AGG

Details and patient eligibility

About

This feasibility study will evaluate yoga as a treatment for chronic musculoskeletal pain. The experimental treatment is yoga delivered via a tablet computer to participants at home ("teleyoga"). First, the investigators will develop a suitable protocol for teleyoga. Second, the investigators will demonstrate the feasibility of conducting a randomized controlled trial involving randomization to teleyoga or in-person yoga groups.

Full description

The first phase of the study is not randomized. In this phase, the first group of participants (n=10) will all participate in a tele-yoga class using an iPad loaned to them by the study. They will attend this treatment session from the comfort of their home or a location of their choice. Yoga treatment will last 12 weeks. At the end of treatment, veterans will provide feedback by completing a satisfaction questionnaire to rate various aspects of the teleyoga (e.g. technical challenges, ability to perform yoga through the video-conferencing platform, problems that occurred, and recommendations to improve the class, etc). The teleyoga protocol will be modified on the basis of this feedback and will be tested on a second group of participants (n=10). The second phase of the study will involve randomization of a further group of participants (n=30) to either the teleyoga developed in phase one, or in-person yoga.

Enrollment: 34 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Veteran
• Medical clearance for participation by VA primary care provider
• Diagnosis of musculoskeletal pain > 6 months
• Minimum pain intensity of 4 at screening on 0-10 scale
• Any psychotropic treatments stable for at least 4 weeks before study
• English literacy
• Wireless Internet connection at home

Exclusion criteria

• Current participation in another clinical trial
• Back surgery within the last 12 months
• Back pain related to a specific underlying cause, disease, or condition
• Baseline pain <4 or >9 on 0-10 scale
• Unstable, serious coexisting medical illness
• Unstable, serious coexisting mental illness
• Attended or practiced yoga ≥1 time in the past 12 months
• Active current suicidal plan or intent

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Single Blind

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34 participants in 2 patient groups

Teleyoga

Experimental group

Description:

group will receive instruction via computer tablet

Treatment:

Combination Product: Teleyoga

In-person yoga

Active Comparator group

Description:

group will receive instruction in-person

Treatment:

Behavioral: In-person yoga