mDurance: A Novel Mobile Health System to Support Trunk Endurance Assessment
Oresti Banos,
Jose Antonio Moral-Munoz,
Ignacio Diaz-Reyes,
Manuel Arroyo-Morales,
Miguel Damas,
Enrique Herrera-Viedma,
Choong Seon Hong,
Sungyong Lee,
Hector Pomares,
Ignacio Rojas,
Claudia Villalonga
Affiliations
Oresti Banos
Department of Computer Engineering, Kyung Hee University, Yongin-si 446-701, Korea
Jose Antonio Moral-Munoz
Department of Library Science, University of Granada, Granada E18071, Spain
Ignacio Diaz-Reyes
Department of Computer Architecture and Computer Technology, CITIC-UGR (Research Center on Information and Communications Technology), University of Granada, Granada E18071, Spain
Manuel Arroyo-Morales
Department of Physical Therapy, University of Granada, Granada E18071, Spain
Miguel Damas
Department of Computer Architecture and Computer Technology, CITIC-UGR (Research Center on Information and Communications Technology), University of Granada, Granada E18071, Spain
Enrique Herrera-Viedma
Department of Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence, CITIC-UGR (Research Center on Information and Communications Technology), University of Granada, Granada E18071, Spain
Choong Seon Hong
Department of Computer Engineering, Kyung Hee University, Yongin-si 446-701, Korea
Sungyong Lee
Department of Computer Engineering, Kyung Hee University, Yongin-si 446-701, Korea
Hector Pomares
Department of Computer Architecture and Computer Technology, CITIC-UGR (Research Center on Information and Communications Technology), University of Granada, Granada E18071, Spain
Ignacio Rojas
Department of Computer Architecture and Computer Technology, CITIC-UGR (Research Center on Information and Communications Technology), University of Granada, Granada E18071, Spain
Claudia Villalonga
Department of Computer Architecture and Computer Technology, CITIC-UGR (Research Center on Information and Communications Technology), University of Granada, Granada E18071, Spain
Low back pain is the most prevalent musculoskeletal condition. This disorder constitutes one of the most common causes of disability worldwide, and as a result, it has a severe socioeconomic impact. Endurance tests are normally considered in low back pain rehabilitation practice to assess the muscle status. However, traditional procedures to evaluate these tests suffer from practical limitations, which potentially lead to inaccurate diagnoses. The use of digital technologies is considered here to facilitate the task of the expert and to increase the reliability and interpretability of the endurance tests. This work presents mDurance, a novel mobile health system aimed at supporting specialists in the functional assessment of trunk endurance by using wearable and mobile devices. The system employs a wearable inertial sensor to track the patient trunk posture, while portable electromyography sensors are used to seamlessly measure the electrical activity produced by the trunk muscles. The information registered by the sensors is processed and managed by a mobile application that facilitates the expert’s normal routine, while reducing the impact of human errors and expediting the analysis of the test results. In order to show the potential of the mDurance system, a case study has been conducted. The results of this study prove the reliability of mDurance and further demonstrate that practitioners are certainly interested in the regular use of a system of this nature.
