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上可行的工具，以实现对腰痛患者的诊断和治疗跟踪。背痛是45岁以下人群活动受限的最常见原因，也是美国70%至85%人口残疾的第二大原因。它是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指导性锻炼和伸展运动来定性地监测背痛治疗，然后规定在家中进行锻炼和伸展运动的方案。很难跟踪长期治疗的表现和依从性。该研究计划旨在对慢性腰痛患者进行长期治疗跟踪。将使用一种新的系统来评估和记录患者功能，使得可以以低成本、高准确度的方式来完成对异常脊柱运动的跟踪。在第一阶段，IDL将利用现有硬件设计系统的算法和软件组件。此外，IDL将通过开展试点研究，确定这一工具的可行性和准确性。 公共卫生相关性：下背痛是美国最常见的健康问题之一，估计有70-85%的人在一生中的某个时候会出现背痛。它是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费用超过800亿美元。目前对这些个体的治疗是基于我们使用微创方法评估椎间盘退变严重程度的能力。这些方法包括使用MRI和CT进行形态学评估，使用调查和椎间盘造影进行疼痛评估，以及使用灵活性和运动测试进行身体评估。这项研究工作解决了一个关键的障碍， 高度特异性下背痛的成功的患者特异性治疗-缺乏低成本的灵敏测量系统来量化和跟踪患有下背痛的患者在延长的时间段内的异常脊柱运动。该计划的研究目标的实现将导致一个新的系统，用于测量脊柱运动，并将该功能运动与患者的腰痛体验联系起来。通过这种方式，我们的研究旨在通过开发一种新的综合多层次范式来影响患者的临床护理，该范式具有高灵敏度，可用于区分患者特定的运动模式及其治疗结果。

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.