STUDY DESIGN: Randomized control trial conducted between June 2000 and September 2002. OBJECTIVE: To determine whether a short psycho-educational video shown in the Emergency Department shortly after the injury would produce follow-up pain reductions and reduced medical utilization. SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA: Chronic pain following a whiplash injury is one example of the massive medical/legal problem of chronic muscular pain. Approaches using local pain sources (trigger points) have shown promise as treatment models for this type of pain. METHODS: (1) Setting: emergency departments (ED) and urgent care (UC) facilities. (2) Patients: 126 patients entering EDs or UCs. (3) Intervention: patients assigned to 12-minute video or care as usual. (4) Main outcome measures: Short Form Musculoskelatal Function Assessment (SMFA), phone questionnaires assessing: narcotics use, ER use, UC use, surgical consultations, etc. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: Patients viewing the video had dramatically lower pain ratings at a 1-month follow (6.09 (10.6) versus 21.23 (17.4), p < 0.001) and this pattern held for the 3- and 6-month follow-up period. Similarly, for 17 of 21 items asked at follow-up, the video group showed superior outcomes (Chi2 ranged from 5 to 35, p < 0.05, all). For example, 4% of video patients were using narcotics at 6 month post ED visit compared with 36% of controls. The brief psycho-educational video had a profound effect on subsequent pain and medical utilization.
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