Digiback

Background

Low back pain is a major health issue in Switzerland and worldwide:

• 8 out of 10 people affected during their lifetime,
• half of them will consult a healthcare professional.

Although it is known that low back pain impairs movement capacity, the role of this in recovery is unclear. Additionally, there are different types of low back pain that could benefit from therapeutic approaches tailored to the types of pain, movement alterations, and psychological factors of the patients.

Objectives

Given the lack of understanding of the links between the factors of low back pain and its progression, this project aims to

1. identify the different types of movement alterations in patients suffering from acute and chronic low back pain, and
2. study the relationships between movement alteration, pain intensity, and psychological factors.

Method

1. First, the Digiback mobile application is specially developed to assess the psychological factors of low back pain and the level of physical activity as well as measure the movement capacity of the spine.
2. Then, each of these factors of low back pain will be evaluated or measured, collected, and monitored in 600 patients over 6 months.
3. Finally, various data analysis techniques will be implemented to better understand the evolution and remission of low back pain and the links between its different factors.

Once the different scenarios of the evolution and remission of low back pain are better understood, it is hoped that the most suitable therapeutic approach for each scenario can be determined.