Mobile Phone Technology for Chronic Pain Patients- A Feasibility Study

Mobile technology can be used to passively capture data tracing features and fluctuations of patients' daily activities, including activity levels, location patterns, sleep, and a wide variety of other health-relevant metrics. This data can then be combined with contextual recall, collected through a mobile app, to enhance passively captured behavioral data. The resulting data collection is objective, real-time, and contextual, thus addressing the pitfalls of conventional measurement of pain treatment outcomes.

The goal of this pilot study is to assess the feasibility and value of using smart phone applications to collect objective, quantitative functional data from patients under active treatment for chronic pain. 35 subjects will be enrolled from the Weill Cornell Pain Medicine Center to ensure a total of 30 completed sets of surveys (15 males, 15 females). The Chronic Pain Registry (a data registry utilized to assess the outcomes of chronic pain patients) will provide data regarding the patients' demographics, diagnosis, and prescribed medications. The mobile applications ("Mobility" and "Ohmage") will be downloaded in the office with a demonstration of proper use. "Ohmage" is a data collection application, designed for use on a smart phone or tablet, and allows for both passive and active capture of data via a device's internal sensing mechanisms and through a user's participation in surveys. "Mobility" is a mobile phone sensor application, designed for both android and iPhone devices, that allows a phone to passively capture information about its user's activity. The "Mobility" application uses an activity classifier algorithm to determine if the user is stationary, walking, running, or driving based on how quickly the WiFi and/or GPS signals change, coupled with the strength of motion detected by the phone's internal accelerometer. Ohmage aggregates the Mobility application's generated data and uploads the data to a secure server for study and analysis. Patients will be asked to keep a daily electronic diary via the Ohmage app. Mobility will be used to track the patients' movement and level of activity. Telephone assistance will be available in case of technical problems (Monday to Friday, 9AM-5PM). An audible alarm reminder will be programmed to encourage compliance with use as well as timely completion of the compliance diary. Two iterative usability cycles will be conducted with assessment of the compliance diary and questionnaire administration at the 1 and 2-week endpoints.