Researchers based at Cardiff University’s Biomechanics and Bioengineering Research Centre are developing new techniques in a bid to ‘speed up’ the treatment process for people with back pain.
The centre is sponsored by the Chesterfield-based charity Versus Arthritis and Valerie Sparkes, who is a physiotherapist by background, is its director. Professor Sparkes also holds the post of interim professional lead of physiotherapy at Cardiff University.
Liba Sheeran, an associate professor and physiotherapist at the centre, summed up the current situation as regards options to treat back pain in an article that was published on the Versus Arthritis website on 23 September.
Dr Sheeran said: ‘Without a clear source to treat, clinicians have to rely on broader strategies like exercise, advice and education, which can be less effective and take longer to show results.’
Artificial intelligence
Dr Sheeran and her colleagues are exploring whether artificial intelligence can be used to create a computer model to classify lower back pain more easily. A computer model uses video footage of a person moving their spine to create algorithms that place individuals into sub-groups based on their type of movement.
‘This means doctors and physios don’t need expensive, complicated equipment, but still get precise information about a patient’s spine movement,’ Dr Sheeran explained.
[The model] speeds up the process for both health practitioners and patients [resulting in] quicker access to targeted treatments that could help patients manage their pain better and possibly recover faster [Liba Sheeran]
The researchers tested their model against decisions reached by expert physiotherapists and found it classified people correctly with high accuracy. If used in standard practice in the future, this computer model could quickly pinpoint movement issues in people with non-specific lower back pain, enabling precise, targeted therapies and exercises to be drawn up.
‘It speeds up the process for both health practitioners and patients’, resulting in ‘quicker access to targeted treatments that could help patients manage their pain better and possibly recover faster’, said Dr Sheeran.
Inertial measurement units
Among the other tools in the researchers’ arsenal are inertial measurement units (IMUs) – small sensors that are attached to a person’s back and show differences in the movement of joints, for example.
Assessments of lower back pain are usually undertaken by a physio but IMUs have some key benefits, Dr Sheeran explains. ‘They’re portable, cost effective, and don’t require a specialised lab set-up, making them more accessible.’
The Versus Arthritis-funded researchers found that IMUs are effective in classifying people based on their movement patterns, and whether they experience pain when bending forwards or backwards.
Healthcare professionals could begin using IMUs to build more accurate pictures of the movements of people with lower back pain, the article suggests. This would help them to develop targeted treatments for each person, adjusting them quickly as needed.
‘Instead of relying on one-size-fits-all treatments and exercises, rehabilitation programmes can be tailored to the specific movement impairments of each patient and made more responsive to their progress,’ Dr Sheeran added.
Dr Sheeran and her colleagues are looking at how everyday movements can influence joints and joint disease. Their techniques are drawn from the fields of biomechanics (joint movement and weight bearing) and bioengineering (using engineering in biology).
The team’s projects fall under four main research programmes
This programme aims to understand how mechanical loading leads to anabolic, catabolic, inflammatory and nociceptive signals in joint tissues, and contribute to symptoms, onset and progression of joint disease.
The research examines the possibility of slowing, stopping or reversing degenerative joint disease by altering joint biomechanics.
Total knee replacement patients are often dissatisfied with post-surgery pain and function, highlighting that that surgical and rehabilitation outcome is not optimal.
Optimisation of Knee Rehabilitation (KNEE REHAB)
The research looks at how we can optimise knee rehabilitation based on biomechanical analysis and understand functional recovery from a knee injury.
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