Laterality Training and Pain Drawings

Hawaii Pacific University

Status: Not yet enrolling

Conditions: Chronic Knee Pain; Chronic Shoulder Pain; Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain

Treatments: Other: Sham (No Treatment); Behavioral: Laterality Training

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other; NETWORK

Identifiers

NCT07078084

5604202539

Details and patient eligibility

About

The goal of this clinical trial is to learn if laterality training (a type of brain-based therapy) can help reduce pain and change how people with chronic musculoskeletal pain experience and describe their pain. The study will focus on adults with shoulder or knee pain lasting longer than 6 months.

The main questions it aims to answer are:

Does laterality training lead to a reduction in self-reported pain levels?

Does laterality training reduce the area of the body that participants indicate as painful in their pain drawings?

Does laterality training improve accuracy and speed in left/right judgment tasks?

Researchers will compare participants who complete laterality training to those who complete a non-therapeutic cognitive task (a word puzzle) to see if laterality training changes pain drawings and improves pain outcomes.

Participants will:

Complete a pre-intervention assessment including pain ratings, pain drawings, and a left/right judgment test

Be randomly assigned to one of two groups:

Intervention group: Complete 5 one-minute sessions of laterality training using a tablet-based app called Recognise™, identifying left or right hand/foot images depending on the location of their pain

Control group: Complete a 10-minute crossword puzzle activity (non-therapeutic)

Complete the same assessments after the activity (pain ratings, pain drawings, left/right judgment test)

The study will take place at two outpatient physical therapy clinics. Participation involves a single session lasting approximately 30-45 minutes. There is no cost to participate, and no compensation is provided. Participation is voluntary, and all personal data will be kept confidential.

This research will help determine whether laterality training, a non-invasive brain-based technique, can reduce pain and improve quality of life in people with long-standing musculoskeletal pain.

Enrollment: 60 estimated patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Adults aged 18 years or older
• Diagnosis of chronic shoulder or knee pain lasting more than 6 months
• Able to read and understand English
• Willing to provide written informed consent

Exclusion criteria

• Visual impairments that would interfere with laterality training (e.g., blindness or significant difficulty with vision)
• Previous participation in laterality (left/right discrimination) training
• Unwilling or unable to participate in the study procedures

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Single Blind

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60 participants in 2 patient groups

Laterality Training Intervention

Experimental group

Description:

Participants in this arm will complete laterality training using the Recognise™ application. This involves identifying left or right hand or foot images (depending on the participant's pain location) displayed on a tablet. Each participant will complete 5 rounds of 60-second training with 60-second rest intervals between rounds. The activity is designed to engage cortical body maps and promote neuroplastic changes associated with reduced pain perception.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Laterality Training

Sham Cognitive Task Comparator

Sham Comparator group

Description:

Participants in this arm will complete a non-therapeutic cognitive activity by working independently on a standard word-based crossword puzzle for 10 minutes. This task is designed to match the duration and engagement level of the laterality training without influencing sensorimotor processing or cortical body maps. It serves as a sham comparator to help isolate the specific effects of the laterality training intervention

Treatment:

Other: Sham (No Treatment)