engleski

The use of fitness wrist bands in chronic pain patients – advantages and limitations

Introduction: Technology is increasingly used to promote physical activity (PA) and reduce sedentary behaviour in the general population, but the possibility of using it to support PA in chronic pain (CP) patients is still sparse. CP is a global health concern affecting fifth of the global population, with immense adverse impact on all aspects of a patient’s life. PA is crucial for improving quality of life of CP patients. However, long-term PA goals widely depend on pain perception, actual or anticipated pain exacerbation, and lack of confidence when doing PA. This study aims to determine effectiveness, motivating opportunities and limitations of Fitbit 2 fitness bands used to measure PA and sleep pattern in CP patients enrolled in the 4-week CP management programme. Participants and Methods: Out of 42 CP patients who completed the programme, the analysis was performed on the data for 41 patients (one patient had no data). We compared PA and sleep pattern of CP patients between the intervention (0-4 weeks) and follow-up (4-8 weeks). Wrist band collected the following data: number of days of the activity measured, average time of activity per day, average steps per day, average deep sleep time per day, average time spent awake per day, number of wakening per day. These data were correlated to patients’ anthropometric measurements. Full protocol is available in the Clinical Trials Registry (NCT 03837080). Results: The number of steps and average time of activity per day increased, as well as deep sleep time per day but without reaching statistical significance. However, we observed several advantages: patients are getting active role in their CP management which is self- motivating, encourages goal-setting, competition and social support within the CP group, and in clinical/research setting bands provide better, continuous oversight of patient’s PA and sleeping patterns which are very useful for behavioural change and individualized educational strategies. Still, wrist bands have several disadvantages. Firstly, they require a mobile app and some knowledge of how to use a smart phone (patients’ mean age is 55.6 ± 12.5 years). Sudden malfunction of the band (2 out of 16) and/or the software (2 out of 16). Also, various obstacles on an individual basis (i.e., demographics, psychosocial factors, lack of motivation) might be a reason not in favour of the band. In addition, we found significant improvement in waist circumference and waist-to-hip ratio and waist-to-height ratio were found in CP patients with longer deep sleep time. These results confirm the role of sleep on state of nourishment and metabolic risks. Conclusion: Fitness bands were found to be suitable for the promotion of PA in CP patients, but restrictions apply, mainly due to required IT literacy.

chronic pain ; fitness band , technology for health promotion ; physical activity ; sleep pattern

Results presented are a part of the PhD project of the first author.