Abstract
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 hours period and in the 60 minutes of highest activity.
RESULTS: Movement complexity differed only when the 60 minutes of highest activity were 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 of 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. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Journal | European Journal of Pain |
| Early online date | 23 Sept 2018 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | E-pub ahead of print - 23 Sept 2018 |
Access to Document
- Gizzi_et_al_People_with_low_back_pain_European_Journal_of_Pain_2018
This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Gizzi, L. , Röhrle, O. , Petzke, F. and Falla, D. (2018), People with low back pain show reduced movement complexity during their most active daily tasks. Eur J Pain. Accepted Author Manuscript. . doi:10.1002/ejp.1318, which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1002/ejp.1318. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving.