Research shows smartphones
could help people with
shoulder pain
U
NIVERSITY RESEARCH HAS
shown that smartphones can
help in the treatment of people
experiencing shoulder pain.
Physiotherapy and rehabilitation scientists
from QMU worked with specialists in
Switzerland on the novel use of smartphone
technologies to help establish which
treatments could best improve patients’
shoulder function.
The amount of people experiencing
shoulder pain is extremely high – up to
27% at any one time. After the lower back,
that makes the shoulder the second most
affected body part to experience pain.
Across the specialism of physiotherapy
within healthcare, there is an ongoing
debate about the best methods to evaluate
the effect of disease and pain on shoulder
function. Patients often have to fill out
medical questionnaires which try to establish
how effective a treatment has been on their
shoulder injury/problem. However, there are
numerous styles of questionnaire, and due
to the poor reporting quality, there has never
been an agreed universal standard.
Professor Nigel Gleeson, an exercise
rehabilitation specialist at QMU, directed the
research. He explained: “The team had been
looking for a better way to evaluate patients’
performance and to establish how treatment
has helped improve pain and mobility in the
shoulder.
“Computerized movement analysis
could provide effective results due to its
precision and reliability. The limitation is that
computerized systems are expensive, and
there are issues associated with training
needs and patient accessibility.”
QMU worked with research partners in
Switzerland to identify a solution to this
problem. The team focused on the use
of smartphones, which include three-
dimensional movement sensors as standard.
These smartphones are also affordable, easy
to use and readily available, and can offer a
more effective solution to evaluating patients’
shoulder performance following treatment.
The research was conducted by Claude
Pichonnaz, a PhD scholar at QMU, in
collaboration with Haute Ecole De Sante
Vaud (University of Applied Sciences,
Western Switzerland, Physiotherapy
Depa