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People with low back pain show reduced movement complexity during their most active daily tasks
Author(s) -
Gizzi Leonardo,
Röhrle Oliver,
Petzke Frank,
Falla Deborah
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
european journal of pain
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.305
H-Index - 109
eISSN - 1532-2149
pISSN - 1090-3801
DOI - 10.1002/ejp.1318
Subject(s) - kinematics , physical medicine and rehabilitation , actigraphy , movement (music) , psychology , low back pain , computer science , physical therapy , artificial intelligence , medicine , neuroscience , circadian rhythm , philosophy , physics , alternative medicine , classical mechanics , pathology , aesthetics
Background Actigraphy is a quantitative method for the investigation of human physical activity and is normally based on accelerometric and/or kinematic data. Methods A multichannel actigraphy system, able to record both acceleration and spine angles, was employed in this study to measure the quality of movement in 17 individuals with chronic low back pain (LBP) and 18 healthy individuals during unrestricted daily activities. An indication of movement complexity was computed by means of non‐negative matrix factorization throughout the 24 hr period and in the 60 min of highest activity. Results Movement complexity differed only when the 60 min of highest activity was taken into account, with the LBP group showing reduced complexity (e.g., for dimensionality = 8, over 90% of the comparisons showed a significant reduction in the LBP group). Conclusions The results are compatible with the hypothesis that pain induces a reduction in the available kinematic trajectories and degrees of freedom during natural movements, which becomes more evident when more demanding tasks are performed. A reduced movement complexity suggests a persistent alteration of the descending neural pathways and/or a disrupted somatosensory information processing, which could be possibly contrasted by administering highly variable motor tasks. Significance People with chronic pain move differently. Movement quality is difficult to evaluate during daily activities, yet it may prove more informative than quantitative measurements. We proposed a new approach for computing movement complexity and found out that patients’ movements get more stereotyped when higher spinal acceleration is required.