Patrick Finan, PhD, (left) and Philip Chow, PhD
Chronic low back pain affects millions of people worldwide and is often accompanied by insomnia, defined as chronic difficulty falling or staying asleep resulting in daytime impairments. Treating insomnia using cognitive behavioral therapy (CBTi) can improve sleep and sometimes reduce pain, but for most people with both back pain and insomnia, CBTi alone doesn’t lead to meaningful pain relief. Right now, it is not fully understood why some people with back pain respond to CBTi while others don’t, and there is lack of effective next steps for those who don’t see pain improvement.
In a new study backed by a $4 million grant from the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, Patrick Finan, PhD, in the Department of Anesthesiology, and Philip Chow, PhD, in the Department of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Sciences, are testing whether adding simple, telehealth-delivered meditation practice focused on enhancing positive emotions—called Savoring Meditation—can help reduce pain in people who don’t benefit from CBTi alone.
All participants in the study will first receive online CBTi using SHUTi, a program developed at UVA by co-investigator Lee Ritterband, PhD. Those who still have significant pain afterward will be randomly assigned to either the Savoring Meditation program or a pain education program. Finan and Chow will follow participants for up to a year to see whether this added approach improves pain and sleep long-term.
This study leverages the complementary methods of Drs. Finan and Chow’s labs by combining accessible digital and telehealth tools to offer new, scalable solutions for people living with chronic pain and insomnia. In addition to Dr. Ritterband, other key collaborators include Matthew Gurka, PhD, in the UVA Department of Public Health Sciences and Michael Smith, PhD, at Johns Hopkins.
Filed Under: Research