„Valedo Movement Lab“: Das portable Bewegungslabor misst Bewegungs-Qualität bei unteren Rückenschmerzen
Auf einen Blick
- Co-Projektleiter/in : Jan Kool, Melissa Lawrence
- Stellv. Projektleiter/in : Christoph Bauer
- Projektteam : Lukas Baumgartner, Markus Ernst, Anna Hügli, Markku Kankaanpää, Anastasios Margilis, Fabian Rast, Anne-Kathrin Rausch Osthoff, Sarah Schelldorfer, Jana Suni
- Projektvolumen : CHF 320'720
- Projektstatus : abgeschlossen
- Drittmittelgeber : Andere (Pirkanmaa Hospital District, Finnland, Social Insurance Institution of Finland), KTI (KTI-Projekt / Projekt Nr. 12413.1;12 PFES-ES)
- Projektpartner : MedBase Brunngasse Winterthur, UKK Institute, Tampere University, Hocoma AG
- Kontaktperson : Christoph Bauer
Beschreibung
Low back pain – Novel technology improves patient assessment
Clinicians frequently encounter patients suffering from low back pain with degraded lumbar movement and movement control. Measuring lumbar movement is difficult because existing measurement systems such as visual observation lack accuracy and comprehensiveness. Researchers from Tampere University and Zurich University of Applied Sciences developed a mobile and low-cost measurement system that overcomes these limitations and provides valid and reliable measures of lumbar movement.
Low back pain is a very common symptom and the leading cause of
disability worldwide. Only a small proportion of patients have a
well-understood pathological cause, e.g. a vertebral fracture. All
others have no specific cause of pain and their treatment is
difficult, although many clinicians notice distinguishable clinical
features in daily practice. One important feature is degraded
lumbar movement and movement control, but this is difficult to
quantify because current measurement systems lack accuracy,
reliability, validity, comprehensiveness and practicality. To
overcome these limitations, researchers from Tampere University,
UKK Institute, Hocoma AG and Zurich University of Applied Sciences
developed a mobile and low-cost measurement system (Valedo®) that
overcomes these limitations and provides valid and reliable
measures of lumbar movement.
In this project, the researchers tested whether the novel
measurement system fulfils the basic criteria for measurement
systems: validity and reliability. They tested it against an exact
gold standard, a reference system frequently used in movement
science, and found it to provide valid and reliable measures of
lumbar movements. Because these results were encouraging, they used
it to investigate several questions with clinical relevance: the
associations between low back pain intensity, fatigue and decline
of lumbar movement control as well as the effect of exercise on
lumbar movement control, in people with physically demanding jobs
(nurses) who are at great risk of developing chronic low back pain.
The researchers found that low back pain indeed reduces lumbar
movement control: the higher the pain, the more movement control is
affected. Moreover, they found that fatigue also affects movement
control: patients with low back pain use different compensation
strategies than pain-free people. Finally, they found that exercise
may reverse or reduce deterioration of lumbar movement control and
could therefore be beneficial for people who are at great risk of
developing chronic low back pain. The results supported the
development of Valedo®, a highly sucessfull therapy tool used by
clinicans.
Broad-based Finnish-Swiss research project
The project concluded in 2014. The Swiss partners were funded by
the Innosuisse agency of the Swiss Confederation. The Finnish
partners were financed by the Social Insurance Institution of
Finland and the Pirkanmaa Hospital District.
In a follow-up project funded by Innosuisse, this study group has
begun to integrate the novel measurement system with an additional
precise measurement system, further improving its quality. The
continuing interest of funding organisations indicate the clinical,
scientific and economic potential of this technology.
The partners had the common aim of developing a novel measurement
system to enable clinicians to measure lumbar movement objectively
and ultimately improve care for patients without a specific cause
of low back pain.
List of scienfitic peer reviewed publications:
1. Ernst, M.J., et al., Determination of thoracic and lumbar
spinal processes by their percentage position between C7 and the
PSIS level. BMC Res Notes, 2013. 6: p. 58.
2. Bauer, C.M., et al., Concurrent validity and reliability of a
novel wireless inertial measurement system to assess trunk
movement. J Electromyogr Kinesiol, 2015. 25(5): p. 782-90.
3. Bauer, C.M., et al., Pain intensity attenuates movement control
of the lumbar spine in low back pain. J Electromyogr Kinesiol,
2015. 25(6): p. 919-27.
4. Hugli, A.S., et al., Adherence to home exercises in non-specific
low back pain. A randomised controlled pilot trial. J Bodyw Mov
Ther, 2015. 19(1): p. 177-85.
5. Rausch Osthoff, A.K., et al., Measuring lumbar reposition
accuracy in patients with unspecific low back pain: systematic
review and meta-analysis. Spine (Phila Pa 1976), 2015. 40(2): p.
E97-E111.
6. Schelldorfer, S., et al., Low back pain and postural control,
effects of task difficulty on centre of pressure and spinal
kinematics. Gait Posture, 2015. 41(1): p. 112-8.
7. Bauer, C.M., et al., Reliability of lumbar movement dysfunction
tests for chronic low back pain patients. Man Ther, 2016. 24: p.
81-4.
8. Bauer, C.M., et al., The effect of muscle fatigue and low back
pain on lumbar movement variability and complexity. J Electromyogr
Kinesiol, 2017. 33: p. 94-102.
9. Rast, F.M., et al., Reproducibility of a new signal processing
technique to assess joint sway during standing. J Biomech, 2017.
51: p. 133-136.
10. Bauer, C., Reliability and Validity of Lumbopelvic Kinematics
Related to Nonspecific Low Back Pain, in Departement of Medicine
and Life Science. 2018, University of Tampere: Tampere,
Finland.