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Chapter 19
A Portable Wireless Solution for Back Pain
Telemonitoring: A 3D-Based, Virtual Reality Approach
Fotios Spyridonis and Gheorghita Ghinea
School of Information Systems, Computing and Mathematics, Brunel University,
UB8 3PH, Uxbridge, UK
{Fotios.Spyridonis,George.Ghinea}@brunel.ac.uk
Abstract.
Over the years, an increasing number of the adult population suffers
from some form of back pain during their lifetime, something that consecu-
tively has a very important impact on a country's health, as well as economic
systems. Traditional methods of diagnosing and treating such problems nor-
mally involve the collection and gathering of medical information regarding the
type and location of pain, and its visualization on a 2D representation of the
human body using various monochrome symbols. However, these 2-
dimensional pain drawings have usually limited abilities in accurately recording
and representing pain, making them in that way difficult and time consuming
for both patients and doctors to use. As a result, in this work we propose an alter-
native interactive environment for back pain information collection and diagnosis,
based on a wireless-enabled solution that encompasses a virtual reality user inter-
face. Our proposed approach uses questionnaire methods to collect the appro-
priate back pain information, and via a 3-dimensional representation of the
human body which can be marked in color, it could visualize and record this in-
formation, overcoming the aforementioned limitations.
1 Introduction
It is estimated that as the population ages, an increasing number of patients will need
help in managing complex, long term medical conditions over time. Examples of such
chronic diseases include but are not limited to asthma, diabetes, arthritis, heart failure,
chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, dementia and a range of disabling neurologi-
cal conditions [8]. Unfortunately, if not properly treated, chronic conditions can affect
the lives of millions of people and cause thousands of premature deaths, depending on
the condition. Quite apart from their impact on physical health, these diseases also
disrupt the social and working lives of the people affected by them and have impor-
tant implications for families, friends, carers, employers and health services [10].
Currently, 80 percent of GP consultations relate to long term conditions, with such
patients using over 60 percent of hospital bed days in UK. In addition, treating these
conditions is likely to cost the healthcare system of a country a considerable amount
of its budgeted resources. Evidence from the US shows that the care of people with
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