ASPEBI: A MATLAB Tool for Motion Analysis of Non-Specific Low Back Pain Patients

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.3991/ijoe.v19i18.43063

Keywords:

Non-specific low back pain, Gait analysis, MATLAB®, Xsens MTw Awinda®

Abstract


Low back pain is one of the most common health issues worldwide, and non-specific low back pain (NLBP), whose causes are unknown, represents 85% of these cases. Hamstring Extension in Bipedal Position (PEBI) is a clinical sign designed to discriminate the cause of the pain of NLBP as of muscular origin due to the stiffness of the hamstring. Currently, PEBI lacks quantitative assessment, which is required to be utilized in primary care. To support the process of getting such information, in this work, we present ASPEBI, a customized MATLAB® app developed to provide researchers and clinicians with a tool for the visualization of the kinematic and spatiotemporal gait parameters of patients examined with PEBI. This objective information is processed from data collected with the Xsens MTw Awinda system, which can be analyzed by the final users. Lastly, this tool is user-friendly with a modular design that allows integration of other physiological technologies to conduct multimodal analysis, and it could be utilized to explore issues related to older populations or populations with neurodegenerative diseases, among others.

Author Biographies

Paula Rueda-Gaitán, Universidad El Bosque

Bioengineer graduated with honors from Universidad El Bosque in 2021, currently pursuing a master's degree in Biomedical Informatics at the Faculty of Medicine of Universidad El Bosque. Young researcher of the Ministry of Science and Technology between 2021 and 2022. Currently coordinator of the bioinformatics area of the Specialized Laboratory at Clinica Colsanitas.

Ronald Cardenas-Prieto , Universidad El Bosque

Bioengineer graduated from Universidad El Bosque in 2021. Young researcher from the Ministry of Science and Technology since 2021, Service Engineer at BPM Andina carrying out qualifications and validations of pharmaceutical and health equipment in Colombian and in an international level between 2022 and 2023. Currently an analyst Jr. Bioinformatician from the Colsanitas Clinic Specialized Laboratory.

Mario F. Jiménez, School of Engineering, Science and Technology, Universidad del Rosario

Mario F. Jimenez received the B.S. degree in Electronics Engineering in 2005 and the Industrial Control Engineering Master's degree in 2012. Both from the Universidad de Ibagué, Colombia. In 2018, he received his Ph.D. from the Federal University of Espírito Santo,  Vitoria, Brazil. In 2019 he was a researcher in the Signal Analysis Research (SAR) Laboratory at Toronto Metropolitan University. He is currently a Professor in the School of Engineering, Science, and Technology at Universidad del Rosario, Bogotá, Colombia. His research interests include Human-Robot-Environment interaction, assistive and rehabilitation robotics, and social robotics. 

Andrés A. Ramírez-Duque, School of Computing Science, College of Science and Engineering, University of Glasgow

Andrés A. Ramírez-Duque received his bachelor’s degree in Mechatronics Engineering from the Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá, Colombia, in 2009, and his Industrial Automation Master degree from the Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá, Colombia, in 2011. He received his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the Federal University of Espírito Santo, Vitória, Brazil, in 2019. He won a Google Latin America Research Award in 2017. He is currently a Research Associate at the University of Glasgow (Scotland, UK). His current research interests include Human-Robot interaction and AI-enhanced Social Robots, Natural Language Processing, high-performance computing, smart environments, and serious games applied to Children with development and learning impairments.

Edith Pulido Herrera, Osiris-Bioaxis Research Group, Universidad El Bosque, Bogotá, Colombia

Edith Pulido Herrera received her bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from the National University of Colombia, Bogotá, Colombia. She received her European Ph.D. in Computer Science from Universitat Jaume I, Spain. She was a scholar visitor at the Graz University of Technology, the Vienna University of Technology, Austria, and the University of Michigan, USA. Currently, she is a full professor at the Universidad El Bosque, Bogotá, Colombia. Her research interests include multisensor data fusion, computational techniques with applications to wearable inertial sensors for human motion analysis in unconstrained environments, gerontechnology, human gait analysis, and technologies for the well-being of vulnerable populations.

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Published

2023-12-22

How to Cite

Rueda-Gaitán, P., Cardenas-Prieto , R. ., Jiménez, M. F., Ramírez-Duque, A. A., & Pulido Herrera, E. (2023). ASPEBI: A MATLAB Tool for Motion Analysis of Non-Specific Low Back Pain Patients. International Journal of Online and Biomedical Engineering (iJOE), 19(18), pp. 71–84. https://doi.org/10.3991/ijoe.v19i18.43063

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Papers