Wearable Technology for Back Movement Monitoring in Patients with Low Back Pain

Low back pain is a common health issue and often leads to disability and a decreased quality of life. Sufficient movements of the back are crucial for recovery from low back pain. However, affected individuals tend to limit their back movements because of pain or fear. Tracking movements of the back can help mitigate this issue by reminding the patients to move their back if sufficient movement is not detected and by motivating them using exergaming strategies. Additionally, such information can be used by healthcare providers to adapt the patient’s rehabilitation routine for better results. Currently available methods for back movement monitoring are costly, have limited measurement space, or need professionals for setup. We want to develop smart wearable technologies using thread-like sensors to monitor back movements. Our proposed solution will lead to wearable technologies that are practical, light, unobtrusive, and inexpensive.

Low back pain is a common health issue and often leads to disability and a decreased quality of life. Sufficient movements of the back are crucial for recovery from low back pain. However, affected individuals tend to limit their back movements because of pain or fear. Tracking movements of the back can help mitigate this issue by reminding the patients to move their back if sufficient movement is not detected and by motivating them using exergaming strategies. Additionally, such information can be used by healthcare providers to adapt the patient’s rehabilitation routine for better results.

Currently available methods for back movement monitoring are costly, have limited measurement space, or need professionals for setup. We want to develop smart wearable technologies using thread-like sensors to monitor back movements. Our proposed solution will lead to wearable technologies that are practical, light, unobtrusive, and inexpensive.

**Goals** - Develop prototypes using capacitive, resistive, or inductive stretch sensors (provided by applied materials researchers within BMHT or commercial options) to monitor back movements - Develop data acquisition electronics to read sensors’ data - Evaluate the performance of the garments - Visualize results and write a report of the work (manuscript or project report) **Tasks** - Literature review (10%) - Development of prototype including electronics (30%) - Data processing for movement detection from sensors’ signals (20%) - Test and evaluation (20%) - Report and presentation (20%) **Your Profile** - Background in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, mechanical engineering, computer science, or related fields - Prior experience with or willingness to learn about prototyping (electrical circuits and microcontroller programming) - Prior experience with programming/machine learning algorithms - Independent worker with critical thinking and problem solving skills - Can collected data and visualize them using different charts such as boxplot and scatter plots

**Goals**

- Develop prototypes using capacitive, resistive, or inductive stretch sensors (provided by applied materials researchers within BMHT or commercial options) to monitor back movements
- Develop data acquisition electronics to read sensors’ data
- Evaluate the performance of the garments
- Visualize results and write a report of the work (manuscript or project report)

**Tasks**

- Literature review (10%)
- Development of prototype including electronics (30%)
- Data processing for movement detection from sensors’ signals (20%)
- Test and evaluation (20%)
- Report and presentation (20%)

**Your Profile**

- Background in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, mechanical engineering, computer science, or related fields
- Prior experience with or willingness to learn about prototyping (electrical circuits and microcontroller programming)
- Prior experience with programming/machine learning algorithms
- Independent worker with critical thinking and problem solving skills
- Can collected data and visualize them using different charts such as boxplot and scatter plots

Prof Dr Carlo Menon and Dr Chakaveh Ahmadizadeh will supervise the student and the research will be performed at the Biomedical and Mobile Health Technology lab (www.bmht.ethz.ch) at ETH Zurich, Switzerland. To apply, use the button below to tell us why you want to do this project ("motivation") along with the type of project you are applying for (e.g., master project or thesis) and your timeline for the project; attach a mini CV with your current program of study, your grades and any other info you deem relevant--maybe the name and phone number of a postdoc or a professor willing to be your reference; and make any further comments ("additional remarks").

Prof Dr Carlo Menon and Dr Chakaveh Ahmadizadeh will supervise the student and the research will be performed at the Biomedical and Mobile Health Technology lab (www.bmht.ethz.ch) at ETH Zurich, Switzerland.

To apply, use the button below to tell us why you want to do this project ("motivation") along with the type of project you are applying for (e.g., master project or thesis) and your timeline for the project; attach a mini CV with your current program of study, your grades and any other info you deem relevant--maybe the name and phone number of a postdoc or a professor willing to be your reference; and make any further comments ("additional remarks").