Getting RID of pain-related behaviour to improve social and self perception: A technology-based perspective

Abstract

People with chronic musculoskeletal pain can experience pain-related fear of physical activity and low confidence in their own motor capabilities. These pain-related emotions and thoughts are often communicated through communicative and protective non-verbal behaviours. Studies in clinical psychology have shown that protective behaviours affect well-being not only physically and psychologically, but also socially. These behaviours appear to be used by others to appraise not just a person's physical state but also to make inferences about their personality traits, with protective pain-related behaviour more negatively evaluated than the communicative behaviour. Unfortunately, people with chronic pain may have difficulty in controlling the triggers of protective behaviour and often are not even aware they exhibit such behaviour. New sensing technology capable of detecting such behaviour or its triggers could be used to support rehabilitation in this regard. In this paper we briefly discuss the above issues and present our approach in developing a rehabilitation system.

Motivating people with chronic pain to do physical activity

“…The capacity of emerging technology to automatically detect protective/avoidance behaviour [1], pain [12,20], and other emotional expressions during physical activity and exergames [13,27] is reaching levels comparable with naïve observers and even clinicians. This suggests that it is time to explore its potential.…”

“…This suggests that it is time to explore its potential. However, technology that adapts to people's emotions is underdeveloped [1] and not yet used in physical rehabilitation contexts.…”

“…While the design of our device addresses mainly the exploration and possibly maintenance phases of the journey, the integration of the above design in systems able to automatically detect protective behaviour and identify critical emotional states [1,12,13,20,27] could provide support also for the building phase. Our findings show that the type and quantity of feedback provided by physiotherapists is based on the psychological state of the patient and on where s/he is in the journey.…”

Embracing calibration in body sensing

“…Balka and Wagner [4] describe this customizing and tailoring as being part of "appropriation work" -i.e. the process of "users actively integrating technology into their actions".…”

“…For example, [4] proposes an emotion-aware system for self-directed rehabilitation that adapts at run-time the exercise plan and feedback to address the psychological needs of the patient as they arise (e.g. increase in anxiety level).…”