University of Michigan researchers have received federal funding for a study examining a personalized coaching program designed to help adults with chronic lower back pain use marijuana more safely and effectively.
Announced September 3, the project is led by Rachel Bergmans and Kevin Boehnke of the university’s Department of Anesthesiology. Funding comes from the National Institutes of Health’s National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health.
The 12-month feasibility trial will involve 80 adults at sites in Michigan and California. Participants will be randomly assigned to receive coaching or access to educational and tracking resources without coaching.
Coaches will help participants develop individualized marijuana-use plans. An online dashboard will provide educational materials and track product use, symptoms and safety concerns.
Participants will obtain their own legal marijuana products; researchers will not supply a standardized formulation.
The team will evaluate recruitment, retention, coaching consistency and data collection. Those findings will help determine whether to conduct a larger trial testing improvements in pain and other outcomes.
The project builds on earlier work involving veterans with chronic pain, expanding the approach to a broader patient population.
