Mind your pain: A single-arm feasibility study to assess a smartphone-based interoceptive attention training for patients with chronic low back pain.

Objective: People commonly cope with chronic low back pain (cLBP) by ignoring and distraction. Can mindful interoceptive exposure to the pain sensation itself and its phenomenological components be an alternative approach?

Methods: Single-arm feasibility study in patients with cLBP using a 2-minute attention exercise guided by a smartphone app several times per day over 8 weeks. We assessed feasibility, pre/post pain, function, and psychological parameters using mixed methods: standard questionnaires, ecological momentary assessment, and exit interviews that included micro-phenomenology technique and subsequent reflexive thematic qualitative analysis.

Chronic Low Back Pain Causal Risk Factors Identified by Mendelian Randomization: a Cross-Sectional Cohort Analysis.

Background Context: There are a number of risk factors- from biological, psychological, and social domains- for non-specific chronic low back pain (cLBP). Many cLBP treatments target risk factors on the assumption that the targeted factor is not just associated with cLBP but is also a cause (i.e, a causal risk factor).

Livestream, group movement program for people living with cognitive impairment and care partners: A randomized clinical trial.

Introduction: There are few widely-available, evidence-based options to support quality of life (QOL) for people living with Alzheimer's disease and related dementias.

Methods: We performed a randomized, controlled trial with a Waitlist control group to determine whether an online, livestream, mind-body, group movement program (Moving Together, 1 hour, 2 days/week, 12 weeks) improves QOL in people with cognitive impairment (PWCI) or care partners (CPs) and explore mechanisms of action. The primary outcome for both participants was self-reported QOL.

Interoceptive bodily awareness in patients seeking pain relief with osteopathic manipulative treatment: an observational cohort pilot study.

Context: Interoceptive bodily awareness (IBA) is one's attentional focus on and relationship with comfortable and uncomfortable (e.g., pain) internal body sensations.

Design of the COMEBACK and BACKHOME Studies, Longitudinal Cohorts for Comprehensive Deep Phenotyping of Adults with Chronic Low-Back Pain (cLBP): a part of the BACPAC Research Program.

Objective: The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) Core Center for Patient-centric, Mechanistic Phenotyping in Chronic Low Back Pain (REACH) is one of the three NIH Back Pain Consortium (BACPAC) Research Programs Mechanistic Research Centers (MRCs). The goal of UCSF REACH is to define cLBP phenotypes and pain mechanisms that can lead to effective, personalized treatments for patients across the population. The primary objective of this research project is to address the critical need for new diagnostic and prognostic markers, and associated patient classification protocols for chronic low back pain (cLBP) treatment.

[Evidence-based interventions to treat chronic low back pain: treatment selection for a personalized medicine approach : German version].

Introduction: Chronic low back pain (cLBP) is highly prevalent in the United States and globally, resulting in functional impairment and lowered quality of life. While many treatments are available for cLBP, clinicians have little information about which specific treatment(s) will work best for individual patients or subgroups of patients. The Back Pain Research Consortium, part of the National Institutes of Health Helping to End Addiction Long-term (HEAL) Initiative, will conduct a collaborative clinical trial, which seeks to develop a personalized medicine algorithm to optimize patient and provider treatment selection for patients with cLBP.

Preferences for risks and benefits of treatment outcomes for chronic low back pain: Choice-based conjoint measure development and discrete choice experiment.

Introduction: Understanding individual patient preferences for chronic low back pain (cLBP) outcomes is essential for targeting available therapeutic options; yet tools to elicit patient outcome preferences are limited.

Objective: To develop and test a choice-based conjoint (CBC) measure, commonly used in behavioral economics research, to elicit what outcomes patients with cLBP want to achieve and avoid.

Design: We developed a survey-based CBC measure to allow patients to make risk/benefit trade-off choices between possible treatment outcomes.

Adaptation of an In-Person Mind-Body Movement Program for People with Cognitive Impairment or Dementia and Care Partners for Online Delivery: Feasibility, Satisfaction and Participant-Reported Outcomes.

Background: Preventing Loss of Independence through Exercise (PLIÉ) is an in-person group mind-body movement program for people across the spectrum of cognitive decline and care partners (CPs).

Objective: This study developed and refined an online version called Moving Together and tested feasibility and satisfaction with an online delivery.

Methods: In Phase 1, we used qualitative methods to determine which elements of the in-person program were essential to retain for the online version and adaptations that would be needed to support the user experience.

CAPER: patient preferences to inform nonsurgical treatment of chronic low back pain: a discrete-choice experiment.

Objective: We developed and used a discrete-choice measure to study patient preferences with regard to the risks and benefits of nonsurgical treatments when they are making treatment selections for chronic low back pain.

Methods: "CAPER TREATMENT" (Leslie Wilson) was developed with standard choice-based conjoint procedures (discrete-choice methodology that mimics an individual's decision-making process). After expert input and pilot testing, our final measure had 7 attributes (chance of pain relief, duration of relief, physical activity changes, treatment method, treatment type, treatment time burden, and risks of treatment) with 3-4 levels each.

The Back Pain Consortium (BACPAC) Research Program Data Harmonization: Rationale for Data Elements and Standards.

Objective: One aim of the Back Pain Consortium (BACPAC) Research Program is to develop an integrated model of chronic low back pain that is informed by combined data from translational research and clinical trials. We describe efforts to maximize data harmonization and accessibility to facilitate Consortium-wide analyses.

Methods: Consortium-wide working groups established harmonized data elements to be collected in all studies and developed standards for tabular and nontabular data (eg, imaging and omics).

Theoretical Schemas to Guide Back Pain Consortium (BACPAC) Chronic Low Back Pain Clinical Research.

Background: Chronic low back pain (cLBP) is a complex with a heterogenous clinical presentation. A better understanding of the factors that contribute to cLBP is needed for accurate diagnosis, optimal treatment, and identification of mechanistic targets for new therapies. The Back Pain Consortium (BACPAC) Research Program provides a unique opportunity in this regard, as it will generate large clinical datasets, including a diverse set of harmonized measurements.

The multidimensional assessment of interoceptive awareness, version 2: Translation and psychometric properties of the Chinese version.

Background: The Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness (MAIA) is a self-report questionnaire developed by Dr. Mehling that has been widely used to assess multiple dimensions of interoceptive awareness. To further improve the MAIA, Mehling developed the Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness, Version 2 (MAIA-2).

Biobehavioral Assessments in BACPAC: Recommendations, Rationale, and Methods.

The Biobehavioral Working Group of BACPAC was charged to evaluate a range of psychosocial, psychophysical, and behavioral domains relevant to chronic low back pain, and recommend specific assessment tools and procedures to harmonize biobehavioral data collection across the consortium. Primary references and sources for measure selection were the Initiative on Methods, Measurement, and Pain Assessment in Clinical Trials, the Minimum Data Set from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Research Task Force on Standards for Chronic Low Back Pain, the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System, and NeuroQOL. The questionnaire's recommendations supplemented the NIH HEAL Common Data Elements and BACPAC Minimum Data Set.

Evidence-based interventions to treat chronic low back pain: treatment selection for a personalized medicine approach.

Introduction: Chronic low back pain (cLBP) is highly prevalent in the United States and globally, resulting in functional impairment and lowered quality of life. While many treatments are available for cLBP, clinicians have little information about which specific treatment(s) will work best for individual patients or subgroups of patients. The Back Pain Research Consortium, part of the National Institutes of Health Helping to End Addiction Long-term (HEAL) Initiative, will conduct a collaborative clinical trial, which seeks to develop a personalized medicine algorithm to optimize patient and provider treatment selection for patients with cLBP.

Yoga for firefighters: Evaluation of a quality improvement program in California fire departments.

Background: Firefighters experience high levels of physical and mental challenges. Yoga interventions have suggested benefits for firefighters.

Methods: This study reports results from a quality improvement assessment at fire departments with a 10-class yoga program.

Qigong Training Positively Impacts Both Posture and Mood in Breast Cancer Survivors With Persistent Post-surgical Pain: Support for an Embodied Cognition Paradigm.

Theories of embodied cognition hypothesize interdependencies between psychological well-being and physical posture. The purpose of this study was to assess the feasibility of objectively measuring posture, and to explore the relationship between posture and affect and other patient centered outcomes in breast cancer survivors (BCS) with persistent postsurgical pain (PPSP) over a 12-week course of therapeutic Qigong mind-body training. Twenty-one BCS with PPSP attended group Qigong training.

Capnometric feedback training decreases 24-h blood pressure in hypertensive postmenopausal women.

Background: High normal resting pCO is a risk factor for salt sensitivity of blood pressure (BP) in normotensive humans and has been associated with higher resting systolic BP in postmenopausal women. To date, however, no known studies have investigated the effects of regular practice of voluntary mild hypocapnic breathing on BP in hypertensive patients. The objective of the present research was to test the hypothesis that capnometric feedback training can decrease both resting pCO and 24-h BP in a series of mildly hypertensive postmenopausal women.

Guys and dolls: Two case reports of spontaneous interactions with dolls in male veterans with dementia.

Prior studies have described positive behavioral, emotional, and social responses to dolls in persons with dementia (PWD), but most have examined formal doll therapy in institutional settings and primarily included women. This study describes two cases of spontaneous doll interactions in male veterans who were participating in a research study of a gentle group movement program at an adult day center. A doll was present at the study site, and two participants chose to interact with it.

Preventing Loss of Independence through Exercise (PLIÉ): A Pilot Trial in Older Adults with Subjective Memory Decline and Mild Cognitive Impairment.

Background: Preventing Loss of Independence through Exercise (PLIÉ) is a group movement program initially developed for people with mild-to-moderate dementia that integrates principles from several well-established traditions to specifically address the needs of people with cognitive impairment.

Objective: To investigate whether PLIÉ would benefit cognitive and behavioral outcomes and functional brain connectivity in older adults with milder forms of cognitive impairment.

Methods: Participants (≥55 y) with subjective memory decline (SMD) or mild cognitive impairment (MCI) were assessed with tests of cognitive and physical function, self-report questionnaires, and resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) on a 3 Tesla scanner before and after participating in twice weekly PLIÉ classes for 12 weeks at the San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center.

Adaptive and Maladaptive Bodily Awareness: Distinguishing Interoceptive Sensibility and Interoceptive Attention from Anxiety-Induced Somatization in Autism and Alexithymia.

There is growing interest in "interoception" (i.e., detection and interpretation of internal body signals) as a relevant mechanism contributing to certain symptoms and features of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and alexithymia.

Dyadic Group Exercises for Persons with Memory Deficits and Care Partners: Mixed-Method Findings from the Paired Preventing Loss of Independence through Exercise (PLIÉ) Randomized Trial.

Background: Non-pharmacological therapies for persons with dementia (PWD) are needed.

Objective: To develop and test the Paired Preventing Loss of Independence through Exercise (PLIÉ) program, an integrative group movement program for PWD and care partners (CPs).

Methods: Participants were randomized to immediate or delayed start to Paired PLIÉ in community-based classes (1 hour, 2 days/week, 12 weeks, 3 home visits).

Exploring the Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness in youth aged 7-17 years.

Objective: This study aimed to adapt the Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness (MAIA) questionnaire for younger respondents.

Method: The language of the MAIA was revised and children aged 7-10 years (n = 212) and adolescents aged 11-17 years (n = 217) completed the questionnaire.

Results: The original eight-factor model was tested for fit using confirmatory factor analysis.

Students' response to a Massage & Meditation medical school course elective.

This article was migrated. The article was marked as recommended. Due to high incidence of medical student and physician burnout, medical education needs to include skills for life-work balance.