Biometric Image-Analysis Techniques for Monitoring Chronic Neck Pain

Abstract

The term “mechanical neck pain” is a generic term used to define neck pain in people with neck injuries, neck dysfunction, or shoulder and neck pain. Several factors must be considered during the physical-therapy evaluation of cervical disorders, including changes in the visual systems and postural and proprioceptive balance. Currently, the Cervicocephalic Relocation Test (CRT) is used by physiotherapists to detect changes in cervical proprioception. This procedure requires precise equipment, customized installation in a dedicated area and, above all, a significant amount of time post-treatment for the doctor to make the diagnosis. An innovative system composed of Google’s MediaPipe library combined with a personal laptop and camera is proposed and evaluated. The system architecture was developed, and a user interface was designed with the goal of allowing the system to be used more easily, more quickly, and more effectively by the healthcare practitioner. The tool is presented in this paper and tested in a use case, and the results are presented. The final user report, containing the visualization of the results of the CRT, which are ready for analysis by the physical therapist, can be exported from the developed tool.