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Wearables in Digital Therapeutics for Treating Musculoskeletal Conditions

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Wearables in Digital Therapeutics for Treating Musculoskeletal Conditions
DyCare™ has used Shimmer Technology to optimise patient therapy and those suffering from movement disorders based on clinical and understandable results. DyCare are a healthcare solutions company, based in Barcelona Spain with a mission to provide solutions that revolutionise the care process of those suffering from musculoskeletal and neurological disorders.

Background & Objectives

Musculoskeletal conditions are extremely common and have important consequences for the individual and society. Nearly 1 in 6 of the world’s population suffers from a neurological disorder. 100 million people are affected by musculoskeletal pain in Europe in individual working age. 45.8% of middle-aged workers in Spain suffer from Muscle-skeletal problems. DyCare™ launched in the market with Lynx™ a new technology solution that can optimise the recovery providing objective quantifiable information of patient’s condition and an accurate analysis of the therapy progress.

There have been a number of limitations present in the field of diagnosis and treatment of musculoskeletal and neurological disorders. Some examples include early detection, diagnosis and treatment, designing personalised treatments or therapies, and ensuring the therapies are progressive and responsive.

Wearables in Digital Therapeutics for Treating Musculoskeletal Conditions
Lynx™ Solution

The Solution - Objectively Quantify Movement Data

Neurological disorders can have an unpredictable, episodic, or progressive course and require periodic evaluation by a qualified medical practitioner. The limitations that obstruct objective and reliable measures of the movement condition make it difficult to quantify the functional capacity of movement and to assess the impact the recovery is having on recovery. DyCare Lynx™ is an easy and reliable way to analyse the mobility of each joint of the human body. It is certified medical software that improves dynamic testing using wearable wireless sensors.

1. Capture – Sensor positioning: Locate the 9Dof motion sensor over the joint under study and perform the predefined movements.

2. Assessment – Advanced algorithms provide real time analysis and immediate visualisation of biometric parameters

3. Report Generation – Easy to read and understand format for patient and clinician. Full history of the patient’s clinical outcomes that can be shared among specialists

Wearables in Digital Therapeutics for Treating Musculoskeletal Conditions

What is the Market Need?

There are several reasons why there is a need for more monitoring of the conditions; Firstly, the burden of costs for these conditions is too high. Secondly, almost all of the data regarding musculoskeletal disorders are based on individual self-reports and surveys that can be open to error and treatment directed purely to the biological condition is often ineffective, particularly for functional and occupational outcomes. Thirdly, the current model is simply inappropriate for many non-specific musculoskeletal conditions, particularly when treatment is largely symptomatic.

Body worn sensors allow in-situ monitoring of both Biophysical and kinematic data of a patient without impeding any movement. The visualisation of the real-time kinematic parameters is invaluable to these solutions.

The Shimmer3 9Dof inertial measurement unit is used due to its powerful yet lightweight CPU, precision subsystem and small form factor. Suitable for such applications is a result of the automatic connection of multiple sensing capabilities all with visual outputs. The automatic angle and quaternion calculation is concluded in the API’s.

Wearables in Digital Therapeutics for Treating Musculoskeletal Conditions

Quick Insight

The Shimmer platform was one of the first Wearable Wireless Sensor Platforms designed specifically for the advancement of wireless healthcare applications. DyCare have revolutionised the care process by understating and changing how healthcare is delivered, designing and developing a healthcare solution that provides an objective functional assessment of the movement condition and quantifies patient’s progress.

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