Low-Cost Tool for Diagnosis and Treatment-Tracking of Low Back Pain Patients

描述（由申请人提供）：创新设计实验室（IDL）建议开发和部署一种临床可行的工具，以实现腰痛患者的诊断和治疗跟踪。背部疼痛是45岁以下人群活动受限的最常见原因，也是美国第二大致残原因，困扰着70%至85%的人口。它是造成工资损失的主要原因，每年有70多万例外科手术，每年用于治疗和护理的总费用超过800亿美元。腰椎的动态运动已被证明会随着椎间盘退变和疼痛而改变。此外，这些异常的运动模式可以通过规定的物理治疗和锻炼来改善。在实践中，治疗师通过在诊所进行一系列有指导的练习和拉伸来定性地监测背部疼痛的治疗，然后开出一份在家中进行的练习和拉伸的协议。在长时间的治疗过程中，很难追踪患者的表现和依从性。本研究项目旨在对慢性腰痛患者进行长期治疗跟踪。病人的功能将被评估和记录使用一种新的系统，这样的异常脊柱运动的跟踪可能会以低成本，高度准确的方式完成。在第一阶段，IDL将使用现有硬件为系统设计算法和软件组件。此外，IDL将通过进行一项试点研究来确定这一工具的可行性和准确性。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Innovative Design Labs (IDL) proposes to develop and deploy a clinically viable tool to enable the diagnosis and treatment-tracking of low back pain patients. Back pain is the most common cause of activity limitation in individuals younger than 45 years and is the second leading cause of disability in the U.S. afflicting between 70% and 85% of the population. It is the leading cause of lost wages and accounts for more than 700,000 surgical procedures per year with a total over $80 billion annually spent on treatment and care. Dynamic motion of the lumbar spine has been shown to change with disc degeneration and pain. Furthermore, these aberrant motion patterns can be improved with prescribed physical therapy and exercise. In practice, therapists qualitatively monitor back pain treatments through series of guided exercises and stretches in the clinic and then prescribe a protocol of exercises and stretches to be performed in the home. It is difficult to track performance and compliance over long periods of treatment. This research program aims to enable the long term treatment-tracking of patients with chronic low back pain. Patient function will be assessed and recorded using a novel system such that the tracking of aberrant spinal motion may be accomplished in a low- cost, highly accurate, fashion. In phase I, IDL will design the algorithms and software components for the system, using existing hardware. Furthermore, IDL will establish the feasibility and accuracy of this tool by conducting a pilot study. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Low back pain is one of the most prevalent health complaints in the US, with an estimated 70-85% of the population developing back pain at some point in their life. It is the leading cause of lost wages and accounts for more than 700,000 surgical procedures per year with a total over $80 billion annually spent on treatment and care. Current treatment for these individuals is based upon our ability to assess the severity of disc degeneration using minimally invasive methods. These methods include morphological assessment using MRI and CT, pain assessment using surveys and discography, and physical assessment using flexibility and motion tests. This research effort addresses a critical barrier to successful patient specific treatment of highly specific low back pain-the lack of a low-cost sensitive measurement system to quantify and track aberrant spinal motion in patients with low back pain over extended periods of time. The achievement of this program's research aims will result in a new system for measuring spinal motion and linking that functional motion with the patient's experience of low back pain. In this way, our research seeks to impact the clinical care of patients by developing a new integrated multi-level paradigm with high sensitivity for distinguishing patient specific motion patterns and the outcomes of their treatment.