Development of an application for self-management of patients with non-specific chronic low back pain

Abstract

Introduction: Pain will affect 90% of the world population at least once in their lives. When we mention pain, it is impossible not to highlight chronic non-specific low back pain, this condition has a multifactorial character and several possibilities for therapeutic
approaches. With the advancement of technology, the world has reached a new level in terms of research and information, mainly with the emergence of applications (Apps) for smartphones and computers. Objective: Development of an application for smartphones aimed at self-management and therapeutic possibilities for non-specific chronic low back pain. Methods: This work was divided into 2 stages. In step 1, a literature review was carried out regarding all systematic reviews and guidelines available in the literature, in addition to educational materials on pain with or without the use of applications. Step 2 was the development of the App. To create the application, the IDEs “Visual Studio Code / Android Studio” with the FLUTTER language, relational database MariaDB and FIREBASE (Google) were used. To assess the App, the Mobile App Rating Scale (MARS) was used. Results: The developed App was entitled “Eu sem dor”. The user interface has 3 main axes: I - “Understanding what is unspecific chronic low back pain”: this axis adapted a material previously made available in the literature, which presents a playful history with educational elements about chronic pain; II - “Test your knowledge: this axis presents questions to test the user's knowledge about chronic low back pain and the correct answers also serve as educational elements about chronic low back pain; III - “Without fear of moving”: in this axis, we present the possibility for the user to set up a weekly physical activity plan, and, according to the exercises informed, the system presents the level of physical activity in which he fits. The app achieved an overall score of 4.55 on the MARS scale. Download link: http://www.cristianopimenta.dev.br/downloads/EuSemDor.apk. Conclusion: The application was developed considering the need to improve the content and layout of the other available apps on self-management of chronic low back pain. The result looks
promising and the next step will be to test its usability and clinical effectiveness.