Outcome
Type |
Measure |
Description |
Time frame |
Safety issue |
Other |
Depressive symptoms |
Measured using the Center for Epidemiological Studies - Depression Scale |
Baseline |
|
Other |
Perceived injustice |
Measured using the Injustice Experiences Questionnaire |
Baseline |
|
Other |
Perceived discrimination |
Measured using the Everyday Discrimination Scale |
Baseline |
|
Other |
Social support |
Measured using the Multidimensional Survey of Perceived Social Support Scale |
Baseline |
|
Other |
Psychological pain resilience |
Measured using the Psychological Pain Resilience Scale |
Baseline |
|
Other |
Dietary caffeine consumption |
Measured using a daily diary of dietary intake across seven days |
Between baseline and one week follow up |
|
Primary |
Clinical Pain Severity |
Participants will self-report a number between 0 - 100 describing the intensity of their low back pain, such that 0 = no pain and 100 = the most intense pain imaginable. Any integer from 0 to 100 can be provided. |
Baseline to one week. |
|
Secondary |
Pain threshold |
Pain threshold refers to the intensity at which a stimulus is first perceived as painful. Heat stimuli will be delivered using a computer-controlled thermal stimulation system with a 30 millimeter X 30 millimeter probe. From a baseline of 32 degrees Celsius, the probe temperature will increase at a rate of .5 degrees Celsius/second until the participant responds by pressing a button on a handheld device. For heat pain threshold, participants will be instructed to press the button when the sensation "first becomes painful" |
Baseline |
|
Secondary |
Pain tolerance |
Pain tolerance refers to the maximum amount of pain produced by a stimulus that a person is able/willing to tolerate. Heat stimuli will again be delivered using the computer-controlled thermal stimulation system. From a baseline of 32 degrees Celsius, the probe temperature will increase at a rate of .5 degrees Celsius/second until the participant responds by pressing a button on a handheld device. For heat pain tolerance, participants will be instructed to press the button when they are "no longer willing to tolerate" the painful sensation. |
Baseline |
|
Secondary |
Temporal summation of pain |
Temporal summation of pain refers to a form of endogenous pain facilitation characterized by the perception of increased pain despite constant or even reduced peripheral afferent input. Temporal summation is presumed to be the psychophysical manifestation of wind-up. Wind-up is a phenomenon where repetitive stimulation of C primary afferents at rates greater than 0.3 Hertz produces a slowly increasing response of second-order neurons in the spinal cord. |
Baseline |
|
Secondary |
Conditioned pain modulation |
A routinely used quantitative sensory testing protocol for the measurement of endogenous pain inhibition is conditioned pain modulation, which refers to the reduction in pain from one stimulus (the test stimulus) produced by the application of a second pain stimulus at a remote body site (the conditioning stimulus). Conditioned pain modulation is believed to reflect the perceptual manifestation of diffuse noxious inhibitory controls, whereby ascending projections from one noxious stimulus activate supraspinal structures that trigger descending inhibitory projections to the dorsal horn. |
Baseline |
|
Secondary |
C-reactive protein |
A marker of systemic pro-inflammation |
One week follow up |
|
Secondary |
Fibrinogen |
A marker of systemic pro-inflammation |
One week follow up |
|
Secondary |
Serum amyloid A |
A marker of systemic pro-inflammation |
One week follow up |
|
Secondary |
Vitamin D |
hormone |
One week follow up |
|
Secondary |
Oxytocin |
Hormone |
One week follow up |
|
Secondary |
Sleep quality |
Measured via actigraphy |
Between baseline and one week follow-up |
|
Secondary |
Self-reported disability |
To be assessed with the Oswestry Low Back Pain Questionnaire. This measure is patient-completed questionnaire which gives a subjective percentage score of level of function (disability) in activities of daily living in those with low back pain. |
One week follow up |
|
Secondary |
Evoked pain with movement |
Participants will complete a serious of movements including getting in and out of bed as well as lifting a crate from the ground to a tabletop. They will provide a rating from 0 - 100 indicating how painful it was to complete each movement (0 = no pain, 100 = most intense pain imaginable). |
One week follow up |
|
Secondary |
Functional performance |
Participants will complete the short physical performance battery. This assessment represents is a group of measures that combines the results of the gait speed, chair stand and balance tests. |
One week follow up |
|