Effectiveness of m-health-based core strengthening exercise and health education for public safety workers with chronic non-specific low back pain: study protocol for a superiority randomized controlled trial (SAFEBACK)

This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of a smartphone app-based self-managed exercise program plus health education, compared to a health education program alone, on neuromuscular and perceptual outcomes in police officers and firefighters with CNSLBP.MethodsThis is a parallel, two-armed, blinded evaluator randomized clinical trial. Police officers and firefighters (from public safety institutions in the Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil) will be randomly assigned to a m-health self-managed exercise program (twice a week) plus health education or health education alone. Self-management exercise program components are mobility and core resistance exercises, available on the app. Follow-ups will be conducted post-treatment (8  weeks) and 16 weeks after randomization. The co-primary outcomes will be pain intensity and disability post-treatment (8 weeks). Secondary outcomes will be biopsychosocial factors related to CNSLBP.DiscussionWe hypothesize that the effects of a smartphone app-based self-managed exercise program on co-primary and secondary outcomes will be superior, compared to the health education only in public safety workers with CNSLBP.Trial registrationThe study was prospectively registered at ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT05481996. Registered on August 01, 2022).
Source: Trials - Category: Research Source Type: clinical trials