A portable inertial sensing-based spinal motion measurement system for low back pain assessment

Spinal motion measurement during dynamic conditions may help identify differences between individuals with and without low back pain (LBP). The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the feasibility of an inertial sensing based, portable spinal motion measurement system for investigating the differences of the spinal motions between an LBP group and a healthy control group. During a fast flexion/extension test, we measured 3D angular motions of the pelvis, lumbar spine and thoracic spine of the two groups using the inertial sensing based system. Range of motions (ROM) and peak angular velocities were investigated to determine which variables have significant differences between the two groups (p < 0.05). Also, a logistic regression analysis was carried out to see the classifying ability of the LBP patients from controls using the proposed system. The result shows that LBP was particularly associated with significant decreases in peak velocities of the lumbar spinal extension motion, having the maximum 90% sensitivity and 80% specificity in the classification according to the regression analysis. The result demonstrates the possibility of the proposed inertial sensing-based system to be served as an efficient tool in providing an accurate and continuous measurement of the spinal kinematics.