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with previous modalities evidence of its effectiveness is sparse [22]. It is worth men-
tioning at this point that Acupuncture/acupressure and TENS are both part of the
injection therapy and physical modalities methods respectively, however, they are not
considered conventional therapy methods. The reason behind that is a set of recom-
mendations for back pain therapy that the AHCPR arrived at, and which it specifically
emphasizes that the use of Acupuncture/acupressure and TENS are not included [5].
Massage.
Massage therapy is considered safe and it is quite popular amongst patients,
since it can release tension in the muscles resulting in some pain relief. Two system-
atic reviews though, found insufficient evidence to make a reliable recommendation
regarding massage for back pain treatment [21].
Surgery.
Although surgery cases are considered to be very common and are many
times used for back pain treatment, in reality are not recommended by clinicians and
should only be used when it is absolutely necessary.
Patient education.
Finally, patient education focusing on “activity, aggravating fac-
tors, the natural history of the disease, its relatively benign etiology, and expected
time course for improvement” is also considered to be of great importance in speeding
patient recovery and educating for chronic pain prevention.
Moreover, since this is not a thorough review of the back pain treatment methods
that exist, it is highly possible that more treatment options are available and are used
for back pain treatment, however, for the purpose of this work only those that are
considered to be the most common for therapy have been presented.
2.6 Need for a Mobile Solution
Bearing in mind the discussion so far, because of the complexity and sensitivity of
back pain problems, every sufferer needs individual treatment options. However,
unavoidable situations such as queues at hospitals or practitioners' individual places
of treatment, which are prioritized based on the level of emergency or sickness, cause
type 2 patients (abdominal pain, chronic back pain, etc.), who are not considered as
urgent cases, to have to wait excessively long, in order for their health-related infor-
mation to be collected and/or distributed. Moreover, assuming that individual treat-
ment and prescription has been given, it is natural that the patients want to be
informed regularly of their health situations, and the doctors on their part to be able to
monitor their patientsÊ medical situation, therefore, to have both easy and relatively
fast access to such health information.
Sadly enough, conditions such as the hospital queues mentioned before, among
others of course (since this is only a very simple example to demonstrate the situa-
tion), do not allow an effective and efficient use of health information that would
provide both parts with the necessary means for disorder, specifically, back pain dis-
order in our case, diagnosis, and treatment. The rapid acquisition and distribution of
such information is definitely a priority, but most of the times, the professionals re-
sponsible for such activities often operate under tight time constraints. Therefore,
health-related information collection and allocation in an effective and systematic
way must be balanced with the fact that they need to attend to all patients as promptly
as possible [54].
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