By DoM Communications | Date published: February 12, 2026

David McManus and Apurv Soni Support Multisite Chronic Low Back Pain Study 

David McManus, MD, MSc, the Richard M. Haidack Professor in Medicine, chair and professor of medicine, and Apurv Soni, MD, PhD, assistant professor of medicine in the Division of Health Systems Science, are collaborating with teams from Worcester Polytechnic Institute and Boston Medical Center on a multisite chronic low back pain study, exploring how AI methods can be utilized to predict and monitor who would respond to mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) to improve movement, sleep and daily functioning, without relying solely on medication. 

The study, Integrative Mindfulness-Based Predictive Approach for Chronic Low Back Pain Treatment or IMPACT, includes a 350-person clinical trial and builds on mindfulness-based stress reduction, an evidence-based intervention developed more than 50 years ago at UMass Chan by Jon Kabat-Zinn, PhD, professor emeritus of medicine. The eight-week program teaches meditation, mindful movement, and awareness practices designed to help individuals respond differently to pain and stress. The study focuses on predictive machine learning, which will allow researchers to analyze wearable data alongside survey responses and will help understand the impact of mindfulness and who it is most likely to benefit.

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