NCT05206630Completed
ED Physical Therapy for Chronic Low Back Pain
An Ancillary Cluster-Randomized Trial of Embedded Physical Therapy for Chronic Low Back Pain
Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Last updated 14 Oct 2025
Brief summary (registry, in English)
Emergency department (ED)-initiated physical therapy is a rapidly growing resource and represents a promising treatment approach to low back pain. This clinical trial will evaluate an innovative model of an emergency department "embedded" physical therapist to treat patients with chronic low back pain, with a focus on improving patient functioning and reducing opioid use.
- Status (registry)
- Completed
- Study type
- Interventional
- Enrollment
- 128 (actual)
- First submitted
- 11 Jan 2022
- Start date
- 11 Jan 2022
- Primary completion date
- 3 Oct 2024
- Lead sponsor
- Northwestern University
- NCT number
- NCT05206630
What you commit to
- Study type: Interventional
- Participants enrolled: 128
- From 11 Jan 2022 to the primary completion date, 3 Oct 2024
- 1 site in 1 country
- Visits and tests: ask the trial team, the registry does not list them
Built from the registry fields of ClinicalTrials.gov. It describes the study, not your situation.
Who cannot take part
Copied verbatim from ClinicalTrials.gov and grouped by topic. Only the trial team decides who can take part.
Prior treatment
- Other concomitant injuries or pain (e.g., closed head injury, shoulder pain)
Other
- Enrollment in the main trial (NEED-PT, NCT04921449)
- Serious red-flag signs/symptoms (bladder/bowel incontinence, saddle anesthesia, debilitating motor weakness)
- Obvious non-musculoskeletal etiology for low back pain (e.g., shingles, kidney stone)
- Unable to ambulate at baseline
- Known pregnancy, under police custody, unable to consent
Who the study is looking for
- Age ≥ 18 years
- Low back pain (originating between 12th rib and buttocks)
- Evaluated by a physician randomized to either study arm
- Evaluated when ED physical therapy is available (e.g., Mon-Fri, 8am-4pm)
- Likely to be discharged home (based on physician assessment)
- Ability to complete follow-up data collection electronically or by telephone
- English-speaking
Age in the registry: 18 years to - · Sex: All · Does not accept healthy volunteers
Sites (1)
Sites in registry order. Save your city in your profile to sort them by distance.
| Site | City | Country | Site status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Northwestern Memorial Hospital Coordinator of this site? Confirm its status | Chicago | United States | Unknown status |
This page is information, not medical advice. Discuss any trial with your doctor.