Comparison of the Activity Level of the Upper Limbs and Trunk in Patients with Low Back Pain Evaluated Using a Wearable Accelerometer: A Validation Study

Masahiro Inoue; Sumihisa Orita; Kazuhide Inage; Miyako Suzuki; Kazuki Fujimoto; Yasuhiro Shiga; Hirohito Kanamoto; Koki Abe; Hideyuki Kinoshita; Masaki Norimoto; Tomotaka Umimura; Takashi Sato; Masashi Sato; Masahiro Suzuki; Keigo Enomoto; Yawara Eguchi; Yasuchika Aoki; Tsutomu Akazawa; Seiji Ohtori

doi:10.22603/ssrr.2018-0100

Comparison of the Activity Level of the Upper Limbs and Trunk in Patients with Low Back Pain Evaluated Using a Wearable Accelerometer: A Validation Study

Spine Surg Relat Res. 2019 Mar 22;3(4):354-360. doi: 10.22603/ssrr.2018-0100. eCollection 2019.

Authors

Masahiro Inoue¹, Sumihisa Orita¹, Kazuhide Inage¹, Miyako Suzuki¹, Kazuki Fujimoto², Yasuhiro Shiga¹, Hirohito Kanamoto³, Koki Abe¹, Hideyuki Kinoshita⁴, Masaki Norimoto¹, Tomotaka Umimura¹, Takashi Sato¹, Masashi Sato¹, Masahiro Suzuki¹, Keigo Enomoto¹, Yawara Eguchi⁵, Yasuchika Aoki⁶, Tsutomu Akazawa⁷, Seiji Ohtori¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba University, Chiba, Japan.
² Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Saiseikai Narashino Hospital, Narashino, Japan.
³ Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Kanamoto Orthopaedics Clinic, Numazu, Japan.
⁴ Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Chiba Cancer Center, Chiba, Japan.
⁵ Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Shimoshizu National Hospital, Yotsukaido, Japan.
⁶ Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Eastern Chiba Medical Center, Togane, Japan.
⁷ Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, St. Marianna University School of Medicine, Kawasaki, Japan.

Abstract

Introduction: Wearable accelerometers can be used to evaluate waking and sleeping movements. Although a correlation between accelerometer data captured at the wrist and waist has been reported, it has not been evaluated in patients with low back pain. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate correlations between movement measured at the wrist and waist, using wearable accelerometers, in patients with low back pain.

Methods: Twenty patients with chronic low back pain and 20 healthy volunteers were enrolled. Two identical accelerometers were simultaneously worn by each participant, one on the nondominant wrist and the other at the waist, for 1 week. We compared the mean number of active movements and mean total amount of movement between the wrist and the waist to evaluate daytime and sleep activities. During sleep, we also evaluated sleep efficiency and time awake after sleep onset.

Results: In daytime activity, the mean number of active movements and mean total amount of movement was greater for the wrist than for the waist, and the amount of waist movements relative to wrist movements was significantly lower in patients with low back pain than in healthy volunteers (p < 0.05). Despite these differences, the mean number of active movements and mean total amount of movement at the wrist and waist were strongly correlated in both groups. During sleep, although there was no difference in either measured sleep efficiency at the wrist or waist or time awake after sleep onset, measurements were strongly correlated in both groups.

Conclusions: A strong correlation between movement data at the wrist and waist during both daytime activities and sleep was identified in patients with low back pain. Therefore, a wearable accelerometer worn on the wrist can reliably measure the movement of patients with low back pain, simplifying data capture for clinical and research purposes and improving patient comfort.

Keywords: amount of movements; low back pain; physical activity; sleep efficiency; validation study; waist movement; wearable accelerometers; wrist movement.