Early screening and prevention of post-traumatic pain after traffic accidents - a randomised controlled trial of a combinbed psychological/physical intervention

Funding
Danish Victims Fund 3.000.000 DKK, SDU 1 year PhD stip., University College South 1 year for PhD.
Background
Early stratified intervention targeting psychological risk factors such as posttraumatic stress arousal and stress is key in the prevention of chronic post-traumatic neck pain. Building on the work of Sterling et al. (2019), who demonstrated significant clinical effects combining physiotherapy with stress inoculation training (SIT) within four weeks post-accident, this project explores this in a Danish context. 
This project constitutes Phase 2 (a randomized controlled trial, RCT) of a larger research initiative focused on the early identification and preventive treatment of post-traumatic neck pain following motor vehicle accidents in high-risk patients. Phase 1 is a cohort study aimed at identifying individuals at risk of developing chronic post-traumatic neck pain after such incidents.
Aims
1) To investigate whether physiotherapist-led stress inoculation training (adapted from Sterling et al. 2028) is more effective than standard care and,
2) To evaluate cost-effectiveness compared to standard care
Methods
A two-armed randomised controlled trial with patients allocated to either physiotherapist-led SIT or to standard care (standard care in the primary and secondary sectors via referral from general practitioners). The primary outcome is pain intensity and physical functioning as measured on the Neck Disability Index. In addition to self-report measures of pain, physical functioning and distress biomarkers such as Heart Rate Variability (HRV), hair cortisol, sleep data and Quantitative Sensory Testing (QST), registry data on medication and health care utilization are collected.