NCT07166536

Symptom Exacerbation Following Mental Imagery in Patients With Persistent Post-Concussive Symptoms

Recruiting now NA Last updated 14 April 2026

What this trial tests

NA trial testing Provocation Test for Symptoms Using Mental Imagery in Mild Traumatic Brain Injury, Concussion in 60 participants. Currently enrolling.

Timeline

7 September 2025

Primary endpoint
31 December 2026

31 December 2026

Quick facts

Lead sponsor	Reuth Rehabilitation Hospital
Phase	NA
Status	Recruiting now
Study type	INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation	na
Design	single group
Masking	none
Primary purpose	other
Enrollment	60
Start date	7 September 2025
Primary completion	31 December 2026
Estimated completion	31 December 2026
Sites	1 location across Israel

Drugs / interventions tested

• Provocation Test for Symptoms Using Mental Imagery

Conditions studied

• Mild Traumatic Brain Injury, Concussion — all drugs for Mild Traumatic Brain Injury, Concussion →
• Post Concussive Syndrome, Chronic — all drugs for Post Concussive Syndrome, Chronic →
• Post Traumatic Headache — all drugs for Post Traumatic Headache →

Sponsor

Reuth Rehabilitation Hospital

Who can join

Adults 18 to 70, any sex, with Mild Traumatic Brain Injury, Concussion or Post Concussive Syndrome, Chronic. Patients with the condition only — healthy volunteers not accepted.

Sponsor's own description

Background: Mild Traumatic Brain Injury (mTBI) often results in persistent emotional, cognitive, and somatic symptoms-such as headaches and dizziness. These symptoms impose a significant burden, yet their underlying mechanisms remain unclear.

Predictive processing theories suggest that persistent symptoms may result from learned perceptual errors, particularly in individuals with high negative affectivity. This framework may help explain ongoing persistent post-concussive symptoms (PPCS) in the absence of identifiable pathology, which have been linked to various psychological factors.

Mental imagery (MI) is thought to engage similar predictive processes. There is evidence that MI of symptom-triggering movements may exacerbate symptoms in individuals with chronic somatic conditions. However, this phenomenon has not been studied in PPCS patients. Investigating symptom provocation through MI may yield novel insights into the neuropsychological mechanisms sustaining PPCS and potentially contribute to the development of therapeutic tools for this population.

Objectives:

1. Documenting the exacerbation of headache and dizziness following provocative mental imagery (imagery of movements or scenarios that elicit these symptoms in real life) in patients with PPCS.
2. Comparing changes in headache and dizziness after provocative MI versus neutral MI (imagery of movements or scenarios that do not elicit these symptoms in real life).
3. Comparing patients who experience symptom exacerbation following mental imagery to those who do not.
4. Describing associations between symptom exacerbation and negative affectivity, anxiety, depression, catastrophizing, and lower daily functioning.

Methods: A cross-sectional study will be conducted on adult patients experiencing PPCS following mTBI. Participants will be recruited through convenience sampling from a computerized hospital database of Reuth Rehabilitation Hospital, based on inclusion and exclusion criteria.

After signing an informed consent form, participants will be invited to attend 2 to 3 sessions, each lasting 1 to 2 hours. During these sessions, a licensed physiotherapist will conduct a comprehensive clinical assessment, including: Completion of self-report questionnaires; A vestibular examination; Anamnestic interview and clinical assessment of individual movement- and scenario-related triggers for dizziness and headaches; Symptom provocation testing using mental imagery of the identified triggers.

Publications & conference data

No peer-reviewed publications indexed yet for this trial.