Key result
REST flotation shifts qEEG toward healthier patterns vs nap pods in chronic back pain.
Why the study?
Chronic lower back pain involves network changes contributing to pain chronicity, and the effects of REST flotation on neural activity in this population are unexplored.
Does REST flotation improve neural network activity in chronic lower back pain patients?
RCT (n=9)
Open-label
Randomly assigned
No
Does REST flotation improve neural network activity in chronic lower back pain patients?
p-value: p=<0.05
REST flotation induces healthier neural network activity in chronic lower back pain patients, showing promise as a supplemental nonpharmacological treatment.
REST flotation merits consideration as a nonpharmacological adjunct for chronic low back pain; extends RCT evidence to objective qEEG modulation in pain networks.
Thalamocortical dysrhythmia is a shared hallmark of numerous neurodivergent conditions. Restricted environment stimulation therapy (REST) flotation causes desirable neural shifts in anxious or depressed populations towards classically defined healthy spectra. In this exploratory investigation, chronic lower back pain patients were randomly assigned to the experimental condition, six 1-hr REST flotation sessions, or the control condition, six 1-hr nap pod sessions. Participants underwent quantitative electroencephalograms (qEEG) before and after their six sessions. Chronic lower back pain patients were chosen because of the high prevalence of the disease condition and the known network changes that contribute to the transition of pain from acute to chronic. Results showed traditional qEEG pain-associated signatures shift to reflect more regulated, healthy activity across the pain and default mode networks in our experimental condition. Dysregulation in neural oscillations can be indicative of symptomology, and the changes observed in the experimental group reflect healthier activity in all frequency bands, while the control group showed no significant changes in any 1 Hz bin. These significant cross-spectral improvements show promise for REST flotation as a supplemental nonpharmacological treatment for chronic pain.
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McGaughey et al. (2023) conducted an RCT in Chronic lower back pain (n=9). REST flotation vs. Nap pod was evaluated on qEEG spectral power changes in the pain network and default mode network (p=<0.05). Six 1-hour sessions of REST flotation significantly shifted qEEG spectral power towards healthier patterns in the pain and default mode networks compared to a nap pod control in patients with chronic lower back pain.
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