Pain Reprocessing Therapy for Chronic Back Pain

Physical therapists and physical therapist assistants who see patients with long-standing back pain and who deliver or reinforce pain education as part of care. Physical therapist assistants participate under the direction of the supervising physical therapist, who holds responsibility for evaluation, diagnosis, and the plan of care.

Physical therapists and physical therapist assistants in outpatient orthopedic, chronic pain, occupational health, and general musculoskeletal settings.

Intended audience

Physical Therapy

Level

Intermediate

Delivery format

Online, asynchronous, self-paced course: interactive reading with audio or video, and a scored post-test.

Based on

This course reports on a single primary source: a randomized clinical trial with longitudinal functional MRI and one-year follow-up comparing pain reprocessing therapy with an open-label placebo injection and with usual care in a community sample of adults with chronic back pain. The trial was conducted in a university research setting in Boulder, Colorado, with follow-up assessments completed through November 2019.

Randomized clinical trial of pain reprocessing therapy versus open-label placebo and usual care for chronic back pain, with mediation analyses of pain beliefs and longitudinal functional MRI of evoked and spontaneous back pain. ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT03294148.

Scope of this course

Every claim in this course traces to that one trial. Where the trial’s authors drew conclusions or named limits, those are reported as theirs. The course does not extend the findings to populations, settings, or treatments the trial did not study.

After completing this course, you will be able to:

1. Describe who was enrolled in the pain reprocessing therapy trial and the three conditions participants were randomized to.
2. State what the trial found for back pain intensity at the end of treatment and at the one-year follow-up.
3. Explain which change in pain beliefs the investigators linked to the pain reductions, and name the limits the authors placed on generalizing the results.

1. Start Here: How This Course Works
2. Podcast: Pain Reprocessing Therapy on Trial (about nine minutes)
3. The Trial in Brief: Who Was Studied and What Was Asked
4. Inside the Protocol: Pain Reprocessing Therapy, Open-Label Placebo, and Usual Care
5. What the Trial Found: Pain, Function, and One-Year Durability
6. Pain Beliefs and Brain Imaging: The Mechanisms the Investigators Tested
7. Limits of the Evidence and What It Could Mean for Pain Education
8. Key Takeaways
9. Post-Test and Course Evaluation

Quinn Millington, PT, DPT, ECS is the instructor of record: the licensed clinician who reviewed this course and signed off on it. The name and credentials print on the certificate.

Disclosures. This course was developed by The ConEd Solution, which has a financial interest in its sale. No outside funding or sponsorship was received. The instructor of record has no affiliation with the authors of the source publication or their institutions.

This course awards 0.5 contact hours (30 min). How you earn them:

1. Complete the course. Every lesson, in order.
2. Pass the post-test. Score 80% or higher. Retakes are allowed.
3. Complete the evaluation. A short form rating each learning objective and the course.
4. Download your certificate. It is issued on completion and stays available in My Account.

The episode time is its measured length. Reading, post-test and evaluation times are estimates.

This course is designed to satisfy the quality requirements state boards set for continuing education. Requirements vary by state, and confirming that a course fits your renewal is up to you. Each state’s own acceptance statement is in the credit panel on this page.

1. This course reports on a single primary source: a randomized clinical trial with longitudinal functional MRI and one-year follow-up comparing pain reprocessing therapy with an open-label placebo injection and with usual care in a community sample of adults with chronic back pain. The trial was conducted in a university research setting in Boulder, Colorado, with follow-up assessments completed through November 2019.
2. Randomized clinical trial of pain reprocessing therapy versus open-label placebo and usual care for chronic back pain, with mediation analyses of pain beliefs and longitudinal functional MRI of evoked and spontaneous back pain. ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT03294148.
3. Scope of this course
4. Every claim in this course traces to that one trial. Where the trial's authors drew conclusions or named limits, those are reported as theirs. The course does not extend the findings to populations, settings, or treatments the trial did not study.