Science Journal of Medicine and Clinical Trials
December 2013,Volume 2013, ISSN: 2276-7487
© Author(s) 2013. This work is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
Research Article
Visualized Self-exercise Therapy for Musculoskeletal Pain Alleviation
Munehiro Mike Kayo and Yoshiaki Ohkami*
Address: Graduate School of System Design and Management, Keio University 4-1-1 Hiyoshi, Kohoku-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa 223-8526 Japan
Accepted 20 November, 2013; Available Online 18 December,2013
doi: 10.7237/sjmct/102
Abstract:
Background: Chronic pain and general physical discomfort can be attributed
to disorders or malfunctions within the human musculoskeletal system. To
help alleviate these symptoms, Asian countries such as Japan and China have
developed various traditional-arts-based exercise therapies over many years.
Recently, these developments have been complemented by scientific research
of the musculoskeletal system, undertaken by biomedical and mechanical
engineers. The objective of this paper is to enable practitioners to understand
and visualize the essential elements of a clinical technique known as the
Somatic Balance Restoration Therapy (SBRT). The SBRT is a therapist-guided
self-exercise technique where the patients perform a series of motions in a
completely non-invasive manner.
Methods: By applying a systems and mechanical engineering approach to
the SBRT, a computerized visualization of the SBRT clinical technique was
produced. This process was then evaluated by applying matrix algebra and
correlation coefficient analysis.
Results: The results were applied to actual therapy records provided by a
practitioner and then compared with an experienced therapist’s assessment
of the patients’ musculoskeletal disorders. Some of our selected self-exercise
motions for remedying the disorder matched those selected by the therapist.
From these results, the approach developed herein was verified for a limited
number of samples considered in this report.
Discussion: We have shown that traditional therapeutic techniques can be
visualized in some cases, but the approach must be verified by increasing the
sample size of the records. Selecting the most appropriate actions for the
identified malfunctioning body parts is arbitrary to some extent. In future
developments, this approach will be extended to the muscular and nervous
systems.
Keyword: Musculoskeletal disorder, Exercise therapy, non-invasive treatment, Visualization of traditional therapy, system engineering approach, Somatic Balance Restoration Therapy (SBRT)