Pitt Researchers to Lead $14M Back Pain Study

Over 31 million Americans currently suffering from back pain can rest easy knowing that Pitt researchers are shouldering a new effort to study the condition - thanks to grants from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI).

According to a university press release, the University of Pittsburgh will lead a 5-year, $14 million clinical trial to study intervention and early treatment options for back pain.

The Pitt-led study will examine the transition from acute lower back pain to chronic lower back pain, and compare two approaches that can be delivered in a primary care office. The first approach allows physicians to do what they think is best, which is termed “usual care.” The second approach teams up physicians with physical therapists to deliver cognitive behavioral therapy, a specialized therapy designed to help patients put their lower back pain in perspective, allowing them to identify and overcome barriers to recovery.

“Certain patients are more inclined to worry that when their back hurts they are further harming it, causing them to become inactive,” said lead investigator Anthony Delitto, Ph.D., chair of the Department of Physical Therapy in Pitt’s School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences. “That can seriously impede recovery, cause further damage and lead to chronic back pain. Once the problem becomes chronic, the effects are magnified, even causing some people to lose their jobs and have prolonged difficulty with most daily activities. Chronic lower back pain is clearly something we would like to avoid.”

According to the American Chiropractic Association:

•       Low back pain is the single leading cause of disability worldwide, according to the Global Burden of Disease 2010.

•       Americans spend at least $50 billion each year on back pain—and that’s just for the more easily identified costs. 

•       Experts estimate that as many as 80% of the population will experience a back problem at some time in our lives.

The research study will be comprised of 2,640 patients across five regional sites who will be evaluated with standardized tests, measurements and recordings of all MRIs, X-rays, surgeries or other treatments used in order to track their efficacy. Researchers will compare a patient-centered outcome that asks how well the patients perform activities that typically bother people with lower back pain, such as sitting, standing, walking, lifting, traveling and sleeping.

“This is the heart of patient-centered comparative effectiveness research,” said Everette James, J.D., M.B.A., director of Pitt’s Health Policy Institute. “Our mission is to use real-life research to find the right treatment for each patient at the right time.”

In addition to this 5-year study on chronic back pain, Pitt is home to groundbreaking research in the areas of:

      Pediatrics
      Neurological Rehabilitation
      Aging Rehabilitation Technology

•       …and dozens of other life science fields

 With hundreds of ongoing life science and medical research projects, the University of Pittsburgh is an extremely active and well-funded marketplace for biotechnology and lab supplies. The 16^th Annual BioResearch Product Faire™ Event at The University of Pittsburgh on June 25, 2015, brings hundreds of researchers and lab vendors together in an over $738 million research marketplace.

 Consider the following key funding stats from UPitt:

•       The University of Pittsburgh received $11.5 million in grants towards vaccine research and drug discovery related to the detection and prevention of HIV.

•       Research lab scientists at the University of Pittsburgh recently received $10 million in research funding from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) for studies focused on schizophrenia.

•       Researchers from UPMC and the U. Pitt received almost $10 million in funding to study comparative effectiveness of patient-centered medical care.

Researchers and lab vendors have the opportunity to network with one another while discovering the latest biotech and lab supplies, all at a top-level institution. For more information about attending this popular event, click the appropriate link below:

*Header Image courtesy of Wolfgang Sauber