Life-Style Medicine for Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain in Older People (lifestyle med)

The Chinese University of Hong Kong

Status: Not yet enrolling

Conditions: Musculoskeletal Pain; Musculoskeletal; Pain Management; Chronic Pain

Treatments: Behavioral: Lifestyle medicine Health coaching

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT07194239

2025.553 (Other Identifier)

Details and patient eligibility

About

The goal of this clinical trial is to determine the clinical effectiveness of lifestyle medicine in reducing chronic musculoskeletal pain in older adults, as measured by pain intensity, pain interference, self-management efficacy, stress level, sleep quality, healthier diet, better quality of life, and cost-effectiveness, compared to a waitlist control group.

Participants will be randomly assigned to either the intervention or the waitlist group. The intervention group will meet the health coach face-to-face for four sessions to negotiate and set personalized health goals. The waitlist control group will continue to receive usual care without any additional intervention for 24 weeks. Both groups will complete three assessments: at the start of the study, one month after the intervention, and three months after the intervention. The waitlist control group will be offered the same intervention after completing the study.

Enrollment: 268 estimated patients

Sex: All

Ages: 60+ years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• chronic musculoskeletal pain, defined as pain that lasted for more than 3 months persistently or intermittently, including regional pain (joints, limbs, back, and/or neck)
• a degenerative joint condition, such as osteoarthritis, and/or musculoskeletal complaints that fall under the classification of the International Classification of Disease-11 as "chronic primary musculoskeletal pain" or "chronic secondary musculoskeletal pain"
• Pain intensity score ≥ 4 on a numerical rating scale of 10
• stable baseline physical activity
• ability to understand written and verbal Chinese

Exclusion criteria

• patient with cancer-related pain
• inflammatory rheumatic disease
• a recent history of stroke or major surgery in the past 6 months
• terminal illness
• serious mental illness
• severe or uncontrolled heart disease
• comorbid conditions that might impede active participation in the study

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Single Blind

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268 participants in 2 patient groups

Waitlist control

No Intervention group

Description:

Patients allocated to the Waitlist arm will continue receiving their "usual care" without any additional intervention until they have completed the outcome assessment at 24 weeks.

Intervention group

Experimental group

Description:

A coaching context to enhance the well-being of individuals and to facilitate the achievement of their health-related goals. The coach will negotiate and set personalized health goals with participants, ensuring the goals are realistic, achievable, and aligned with their needs.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Lifestyle medicine Health coaching