Multimodal Circuit Exercises for Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain in Older Adults

Effectiveness of Multimodal Circuit Exercises for Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain in Older Adults: a Randomized Controlled Trial Protocol

Analyze the effectiveness of a multimodal circuit exercise program on chronic musculoskeletal pain and disability in older adults.

This is a randomized parallel study (two arms) with blinded outcome assessments. The participants' recruitment will be done by a non-probabilistic sampling resulting from invitations to Basic Health Units. The sample size estimation indicated 164 participants. Participants will be allocated, by means of a randomization process, to one of two groups (82 for each group): Experimental Group (multimodal circuit exercise) or Control Group (cycle of multidisciplinary lectures on pain ). The primary outcomes are global chronic pain intensity and global functional disability scores. The secondary outcomes are functional mobility and cardiorespiratory capacity. All analyses will be processed using the RStudio software. The differences will be considered statistically significant when a 2-tailed p-value is less than 5% (p < 0.05). The statistical analysis will follow the intention to treat. Discussion: This study will discuss the effects of multimodal circuit exercise on global chronic pain intensity and global body functional disability scores. The hypothesize is that multimodal exercises will reduce musculoskeletal chronic pain and disability in older adults to the same extent as traditional supervised and structured exercises.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Subjects from both sexes;
• Aged 60 or higher;
• Had a history of chronic pain in at least one synovial joint for more than three months.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Participants with some types of co-morbidities that may interfere with the research parameters, such as a history of stroke, stenosis of the spinal canal, severe heart disease, fibromyalgia, rheumatoid arthritis;
• Participants who presented a level of pain between 7 and 10 points on the Numeric Rate Scale (NRS) in any body location;
• Participants being under psychiatric treatment with sensory deficits (visual, auditory and intellectual)
• Participants performing any supervised and structured exercise at the moment of study enrollment or six months before.