Effectiveness of Health Education Program on Musculoskeletal Pain Management in Primary School Students

This randomized controlled trial will evaluate the effectiveness of the 'SocLaLola' school-based health education program compared with a sedentary lifestyle prevention program in modifying pain-related beliefs and knowledge among children aged 8 to 11 years. The primary outcomes are improvements in pain science knowledge and reductions in fear-avoidance beliefs toward physical activity. Participants will be recruited from schools participating in the Catalan Board of Physiotherapists' School Health Program. Two primary schools will take part, each contributing two fourth-grade classes. Randomization will be performed at the class level, with classes within each school allocated to either the intervention group (SocLaLola Program) or the control group (Stop Sedentarism Program) using an online random assignment tool. This procedure ensured blocked randomization by school. Both interventions will be delivered by trained physiotherapists in a single 45-60 minute session. The SocLaLola program combines pain science education with strategies to reduce sedentary behavior, presented through a comic-based narrative. The control group will receive audiovisual materials focusing exclusively on sedentary behavior. Assessments will be conducted at baseline, immediately after the session, and at six months. Data collection and analysis will follow a single-blind design. Ethical approval for the study was obtained from the Research Ethics Committee of the Catalan Board of Physiotherapists (CER CFC).