# Progressive Muscle Relaxation for Chronic Pain in an Acute Care Setting

> **NIH NIH K23** · NEW YORK UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE · 2020 · $173,557

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
The overall goals of this proposed project are 1) to develop Dr. Mia Minen into a pain researcher in integrative
and complementary health with skills to conduct independent multidisciplinary research; and 2) to conduct a
clinical research study to assess the feasibility and acceptability of a relaxation intervention for migraine
patients who present to the emergency department (ED). Dr. Minen will develop and advance her knowledge
base, experience, and skills in 5 key areas through mentored training: 1) Mind-body intervention (MBI)
techniques; 2) Advanced research methods (in health services, clinical trials, and mobile health strategies); 3)
Emergency medicine pain research methodology and responsible conduct; 4) New research design
frameworks; and 5) Prevention science, program intervention development, and comparative effectiveness
research. The long-term goal of the research training is to be able to independently develop, assess, refine,
and compare novel and existing evidence-based MBIs for migraine patients across medical specialties, with a
special focus on the emergency medicine and primary care settings. In addition, the purpose of the training is
to gain advanced skills to study the MBIs alone and in combination with nutraceuticals and medications. The
research proposed in this K23 application is important to understanding how evidence-based MBIs can be
made more accessible for chronic pain patients in the acute care setting. It helps to set the framework for
translating evidence-based MBIs into use in other medical settings. Migraine, the chronic pain condition being
used as an example for study, is a significant public health issue. Migraine affects over 30 million Americans,
and it is considered to be one of the most disabling conditions. It is responsible for a substantial number of the
five million headache visits/year to US EDs. The purpose of this research is to study use of progressive muscle
relaxation, a MBI, in patients with migraine who present to the emergency department. During the study, we
will use patient feedback to optimize the smartphone application (app) RELAXaHEAD, an app with PMR and a
daily headache diary. We will then conduct a feasibility and acceptability study of the RELAX approach (use of
RELAXaHEAD and abortive migraine pain medication). The results of this research will inform a future R01
application to conduct a large-scale trial of MBI for migraine patients who present to the ED. The proposed
research and training will be conducted at New York University Langone Medical Center's ED. Dr. Minen's
mentorship and advisory team includes an interdisciplinary team with experts in MBI and behavioral research,
mobile health, headache medicine, emergency medicine, qualitative and mixed methods research, population
health, and statistics. The proposed research and training plans will provide a strong foundation for Dr. Minen
as an independently funded clinical investigator dedicated to us...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9858270
- **Project number:** 5K23AT009706-03
- **Recipient organization:** NEW YORK UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE
- **Principal Investigator:** Mia Minen
- **Activity code:** K23 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $173,557
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2018-01-12 → 2022-12-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9858270

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9858270, Progressive Muscle Relaxation for Chronic Pain in an Acute Care Setting (5K23AT009706-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9858270. Licensed CC0.

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