A multidisciplinary team headed by researchers from UC San Diego has received $1.2 million from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to develop a new method to research and guide treatments for chronic back pain. The research will comprise an array of tools, including wearable sensors and machine-learning to improve physical therapy assessment and treatment.

The research will allow an online monitoring system of the patients posture and movements throughout the day and will ultimately have the goal of creating individualized treatment for physical therapy as well as improving the health of patients.”

Emilia Farcas, grant’s principal investigator and assistant researcher, Qualcomm Institute (QI), UC San Diego

New technology to solve an old issue

Low back discomfort affects as much as 80percent of people over their lives, and treatment costs and lost wages due to disability are more than 100 billion dollars in U.S. annually.

The NSF award provides four years of research to create the Multi-Sensor Adaptive Data Analytics For Physical Therapy (MS-ADAPT) system. It uses wearable technology as well as smartphones to monitor remotely the low back movements and posture, and maintain it by utilizing physical therapy and reporting patient discomfort. The participants in the study wear their own Fitbit along with the network of smart sensors created using nanotechnology and over-the-counter Kinesiology tape. The “Motion tape” sensors determine skin strains. This is the change or stretch in texture of the skin in the course of physical exercise and also spine movements and the intensity of activity or engagement in the muscles.

Researchers are also in the process of developing new machine-learning analytics that can predict the effects the physical therapy process has on lower back pain , enabling faster recovery, lower healthcare costs and more individualized treatment.

The research project is situated at the intersection of a variety of disciplines of study, which include wearable sensors, software engineering machine learning and precision medicine. spine biomechanics, and physical therapy.

“The extremely collaborative atmosphere and the close cooperation between researchers has allowed us to study this multidisciplinary and vital subject,” said Ken Loh who is a co-principal investigator for MS-ADAPT and structural engineering professor at the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering.

Other co-principal investigators are Sara Gombatto, professor in the Doctor of Physical Therapy Program at San Diego State University, and Arun Kumar and Qi (Rose) Yu, assistant professor and associate professor respectively, from their respective departments of the Computer Science and Engineering Department at the Jacobs School and Halicioglu Data Science Institute. Senior researchers who are part of the research are Kevin Patrick, professor in the School of Public Health and researcher at QI and Job Godino, associate research scientist at QI’s School of Public Health and director of the Exercise and Physical Activity Resource Center (EPARC) at QI.

A platform that can be adapted

As part of the team’s longer-term goals, researchers might one day utilize MS-ADAPT as an universal platform to study different medical conditions, like the loss of limbs, spinal cord injury and stroke. In the context of studying and managing the chronic lower back pain MS-ADAPT’s team believes that the latest technology can be used to predict the progression of patients through treatment, and also assessing the likelihood of re-injury.

As part of the project’s multidisciplinary character, Farcas and colleagues plan to make use of this collaboration to teach the next generation of researchers who work across academic disciplines.

Boundary-breaking research is an integral part of the work done at QI. For more on endeavors led by QI researchers, visit https://qi.ucsd.edu/.

Researchers have reported that they attended the 16th International Forum for Back and Neck Pain Research in Primary Care was held in July, 2019. The present state of research on the subject is discussed in this paper. This research aims to evaluate the extent to which knowledge and practice in relation to back neck and back pain has evolved in the past and to determine new areas of interest for research. After an description of Forum XVI and the Forum and its history the scientific program, as well as recordings of plenary, parallel poster and oral talks at Forum XVI were used to show the current state of the field. Utilizing the results of a poll of experts from a variety of disciplines and fields, the research agendas established for 1995 as well as 1997 are modified. Future challenges and achievements are then examined. Over the past three decades, the world has discovered a lot of ways to reduce back discomfort, however the majority of research areas that were in the 1990s and prior remain up to date. Understanding the biological processes that contribute the cause of back as well as neck pains is essential in the development of more effective treatment options. Another issue is the requirement for both psychological and physical treatments to be coordinated. The need to avoid low-value therapies and slow the spreading of back and neck discomfort in middle and low-income countries is of vital importance. The limitations of evidence-based knowledge and practices due to conflicting interests and incentives were recognized, and strategies to apply best practices were arousingly debated in previous discussions. Research into back or neck strain has grown in both quantity and quality throughout the decades, and an updated list of research objectives has helped identify the most pressing issues in primary treatment.

Source: journals.lww.com/spinejournal/fulltext/2022/10010/back_to_the_future__a_report_from_the_16th.9.aspx

(WNDU) (WNDU) – Nearly 16 millions Americans are suffering from back discomfort.

In the end the problem is that it’s persistent. In some instances there is no way to assist. However, an implant that is tiny can give certain individuals their life back.

James Moharter, who was 64, endured 17 years suffering from severe back discomfort.

“We were struck by a car from behind, and then thrown into other vehicles five cars were rolled and were rolled” Moharter recalls.

Three back operations did not provide relief. He was taking pain medications all day long which included the morphine, oxycodone and Fentanyl.

“People might be pinning notes on me since they were at home and didn’t know how to wake me,” Moharter said.

James said to his doctors that they needed to find a new solution to reduce the discomfort. Doctors at Duke recommended this treatment option, using a spinal stimulator.

“It’s an additional tool that you carry around in your bag which patients can use to reduce their discomfort,” explained Peter Yi an anesthesiologist from Duke Health.

The device is implanted by surgeons within the back of your lower back or the buttocks. It targets the nerves that control pain. The patient is able to control the intensity of the signal using an electronic remote.

“I have a wireless charger which I must hold on my hip once every two weeks to boost my battery just a bit,” Moharter said.

James has said that he does not require any medicine at all right now.

“Couldn’t ever have done it before,” Moharter told reporters. “I’m looking to get back the things that I believed I wouldn’t do in the future.”

For the first time since his childhood, James is going camping.

Researchers have devised a new type of treatment known as pain reprocessing therapy (PRT) to aid the brain “unlearn” the type of pain that comes in back pain. back pain.

PRT assists people to identify pain signals that are sent through the brain in a way that is not threatening. Therapists assist patients in painful movements while helping them to reevaluate the feelings they feel.

A team from the University of Colorado, led by Yoni Ashar, MD (now at Weill Cornell Medical College) and Tor Wager, MD (now at Dartmouth College) enrolled 151 patients in the initial clinical study for those suffering from slight to moderate back pain , for that no physical reason could be determined.

Three treatments were provided for four weeks of intense PRT or a placebo injection of Saline into the back or back, or a continuation of the treatment in the same way. After four months of treatment, 66.6 percent those who had the treatment were pain-free or pain-free.

However just 20% of those treated with placebo, and 10 percent of patients receiving regular care experienced similar improvement. The pain reductions after PRT were mostly maintained over the course of a year after treatment.

“This procedure is built on the notion that the brain could create pain when there is no an injury or after the injury is healed, and people are able to unlearn the pain. The study we conducted shows that it is effective,” Dr. Ashar explained.

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