Chronic Low Back Pain and Neck Pain Prospective Study

A Prospective Study to Identify New "Omics" and Imaging Biomarkers of Chronic/Persistent Neck and Low Back Pain

This prospective observation multifaceted study aims:

1. To perform a large prospective study and identify multiple "omics" biomarkers in chronic low back pain
2. To validate identified biomarkers for progression of acute to chronic low back pain
3. To validate identified biomarkers and test their heritability/validity in additional cohorts
4. To identify pathways and relevant individual variations for generation, propagation and subsidence of pain
5. To identify new imaging biomarkers related to chronic low back pain
6. To develop a registry of neck and low back pain subjects to help monitor the health-care management and utility to improve protocols and patient outcomes.

This novel study aims to identify genetic variants associated with chronic low back pain as well as "omics and imaging biomarkers". To achieve this, we will link and relate clinical data (clinical and neurological signs leading to anatomical diagnosis plus a careful evaluation of inflammatory response of patient) to a multiple "omics" analysis in order to investigate promising biomarkers that could answer unmet needs: identification of predisposition to develop chronic low back pain, diagnosis and an objective measure of pain intensity in order to correlate to its pathophysiology, and validate predictors of response to specific (drug) treatments.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Neck and/or low back pain
• New cases*
• Males and females
• 18 years or older
• Willing to participate in the study short- and long-term

Exclusion Criteria:

• Previous spine surgery
• Cognitively impaired
• Drug addiction
• Incarceration (prisoner)
• History of infections, tumors, chronic inflammation (e.g. rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis)
• Congenital/syndromal
• Pregnant females
• Diagnosed psychological impairment
• Inability to read or write