Can Wearable Device Promote Physical Activity and Reduce Pain in People with Chronic Musculoskeletal Conditions?

Objective

The purpose of this systematic review is to identify and appraise the evidence on the effectiveness of using wearable devices to promote physical activity and reduce pain in people with chronic musculoskeletal pain.

Methods

Systematic searches of electronic databases PubMed, CINAHL, and Medline (Ovid) were undertaken for randomised control trials and observational studies of wearable-based interventions in patients with chronic musculoskeletal conditions. Result: Thirteen studies were included in this review. The methodological quality of the included articles was found to vary between moderate and high quality. Studies included patients with osteoarthritis hip/knee (number; n = 5), low back pain (n = 3), rheumatoid arthritis (n = 1), juvenile idiopathic arthritis (n = 1), inflammatory arthritis (n = 1), spondylarthritis (n = 1), and ankylosing spondylitis (n = 1). The intervention group of some of the studies included additional components associated with the use of wearable devices such as step or diet diary, motivational interviewing or counselling, goal setting, and multidimensional and tailored exercise programme interventions delivered in person, remotely, or in a hybrid format. Intervention duration ranged from 1 week to 28 weeks. There were no serious adverse events related to the use of wearables. Overall, evidence from this systematic review shows that wearable technology intervention was effective in increasing physical activity significantly, especially where extra components (counselling, coaching, prescribed physical activity, goal setting, physiotherapist) were used among clinical and non-clinical populations. However, no significant effect was found in pain reduction with the use of wearable devices.

Conclusions

It is concluded that the use of wearable technology should be encouraged in patients with chronic musculoskeletal conditions. Additional research is needed, such as increasing the duration of the intervention, which may have an impact on pain.