The aim of PainMonit is to develop a multimodal sensor-based pain monitoring tool for the holistic monitoring of pain in the context of physiotherapeutic treatment. The aim is to make the otherwise subjective perception of pain objectively quantifiable and reliable by combining simultaneously measured physiological data from different sensor-based systems.
In this first experiment of the overall PainMonit project, 50 healthy volunteers are exposed to experimental heat pain stimuli of different intensities. For this purpose, a thermode is attached to the non-dominant forearm and the heat detection threshold, the heat pain threshold and the heat tolerance threshold are first recorded. This is followed by a calibration of the temperature required for the individual subject to trigger a pain intensity of 50/100 (VAS). Subsequently, a series of stimuli are administered in randomized order, 50% above and 50% below this threshold. During this data collection, the test person continuously assesses the perceived pain intensity on a digital VAS (COVAS). At the same time, the skin conductance, heart rate variability, neck muscle tension (via surface electromyography), respiratory rate and other physiological parameters are recorded using various sensors. This data is combined using information technology and results in a value that can predict more accurately than any individual system how severe the pain was at the time of recording.
Project partners
University of Lübeck
Institute of Health Sciences
Department of Physiotherapy
Prof. Dr. Kerstin Lüdtke
Institute of Medical Informatics
Prof. Dr.-Ing.habil Marcin Grzegorzek
email grzegorzek@imi.uni-luebeck.de
IXP: Institute of Experimental Psychophysiology GmbH
Gustav-Poensgen-Straße 29
40215 Düsseldorf, Germany
Prof. Dr. Jarek Krajewski,
j.krajewski@ixp-wuppertal.de
SUT: Silesian University of Technology,
Faculty of Biomedical Engineering (Coordinator in Poland)
Roosevelta 40
41-800 Zabrze, Poland
Prof. Dr. Ewa Pietka,
ewa.pietka@polsl.pl
APA: APA Sp. z o.o.
Tarnogorska 251
44-105 Gliwice, Poland
Artur Pollak
artur.pollak@apagroup.pl
AWF Akademia Wychowania Fizycznego im. Jerzego Kukuczki w Katowicach
Prof. Dr. Andrzej Myśliwiec
email: a.mysliwiec@awf.katowice.pl