title: mDurance: A Novel Mobile Health System to Support Trunk Endurance Assessment.
abstract: Low back pain is the most prevalent musculoskeletal condition. This disorder constitutes one of the most common causes of disability worldwide, and as a result, it has a severe socioeconomic impact. Endurance tests are normally considered in low back pain rehabilitation practice to assess the muscle status. However, traditional procedures to evaluate these tests suffer from practical limitations, which potentially lead to inaccurate diagnoses. The use of digital technologies is considered here to facilitate the task of the expert and to increase the reliability and interpretability of the endurance tests. This work presents mDurance, a novel mobile health system aimed at supporting specialists in the functional assessment of trunk endurance by using wearable and mobile devices. The system employs a wearable inertial sensor to track the patient trunk posture, while portable electromyography sensors are used to seamlessly measure the electrical activity produced by the trunk muscles. The information registered by the sensors is processed and managed by a mobile application that facilitates the expert's normal routine, while reducing the impact of human errors and expediting the analysis of the test results. In order to show the potential of the mDurance system, a case study has been conducted. The results of this study prove the reliability of mDurance and further demonstrate that practitioners are certainly interested in the regular use of a system of this nature.
authors.affiliation: Department of Computer Engineering, Kyung Hee University, Yongin-si 446-701, Korea. oresti@oslab.khu.ac.kr.
authors.forename: Oresti
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Banos
authors.affiliation: Department of Library Science, University of Granada, Granada E18071, Spain. jamoral@ugr.es.
authors.forename: Jose Antonio
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Moral-Munoz
authors.affiliation: Department of Computer Architecture and Computer Technology, CITIC-UGR (Research Center on Information and Communications Technology), University of Granada, Granada E18071, Spain. nachodr@correo.ugr.es.
authors.forename: Ignacio
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Diaz-Reyes
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Therapy, University of Granada, Granada E18071, Spain. marroyo@ugr.es.
authors.forename: Manuel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Arroyo-Morales
authors.affiliation: Department of Computer Architecture and Computer Technology, CITIC-UGR (Research Center on Information and Communications Technology), University of Granada, Granada E18071, Spain. mdamas@ugr.es.
authors.forename: Miguel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Damas
authors.affiliation: Department of Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence, CITIC-UGR (Research Center on Information and Communications Technology), University of Granada, Granada E18071, Spain. viedma@decsai.ugr.es.
authors.forename: Enrique
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Herrera-Viedma
authors.affiliation: Department of Computer Engineering, Kyung Hee University, Yongin-si 446-701, Korea. cshong@khu.ac.kr.
authors.forename: Choong Seon
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Hong
authors.affiliation: Department of Computer Engineering, Kyung Hee University, Yongin-si 446-701, Korea. sylee@oslab.khu.ac.kr.
authors.forename: Sungyong
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Department of Computer Architecture and Computer Technology, CITIC-UGR (Research Center on Information and Communications Technology), University of Granada, Granada E18071, Spain. hector@ugr.es.
authors.forename: Hector
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Pomares
authors.affiliation: Department of Computer Architecture and Computer Technology, CITIC-UGR (Research Center on Information and Communications Technology), University of Granada, Granada E18071, Spain. irojas@ugr.es.
authors.forename: Ignacio
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Rojas
authors.affiliation: Department of Computer Architecture and Computer Technology, CITIC-UGR (Research Center on Information and Communications Technology), University of Granada, Granada E18071, Spain. cvillalonga@correo.ugr.es.
authors.forename: Claudia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Villalonga
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003195:Computer Communication Networks; D004576:Electromyography / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D017116:Low Back Pain; D008297:Male; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000502:physiology*; D010807:Physical Endurance / Q000502:physiology*; D011187:Posture / Q000502:physiology; D017216:Telemedicine / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D060726:Torso / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: digital health; mobile devices; mobile health; physical conditioning; physical therapy; rehabilitation; trunk endurance; wearable electromyography sensors; wearable inertial sensors