Enhancing Posterior Pelvic Tilt Exercise By Providing Motivation Inducing Feedback to the Patient


Thesis Type: Postgraduate

Institution Of The Thesis: Middle East Technical University, Faculty of Engineering, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Turkey

Approval Date: 2008

Thesis Language: English

Student: Emrah Tomsuk

Supervisor: AHMET BUĞRA KOKU

Abstract:

The aim of this study is to develop a set-up that can be used by patients performing posterior pelvic tilt exercises to assess and improve the effectiveness of the exercise by visual feedbacks. Lifetime of low back pain prevalence is between %60 and %90. In other words almost everyone encounters the problem of low back pain sometime during their life. Therapeutic and protective exercises are the most important components of treatment for the low back pain. People who have mechanical based low back pain due to postural disorders, have weakness of abdominal and back muscles. Posterior pelvic tilt exercises are one of the effective types of exercises to solve this problem. These can be done standing against a wall or lying on a surface. These exercises are advised to patients generally as home exercise programs. However most patients cannot do their exercises effectively due to lack of training and control. In posterior pelvic tilt exercise, the patient is asked to straighten his/her lumbar lordosis and exert as much pressure as possible to the surface he/she is lying on. It is believed that the efficiency of the exercise is correlated with the amount of this pressure. Entertaining visual feedback may increase patient’s motivation and consequently quality of the exercise. In this experimental set-up, pressure variations were determined by three receivers which were placed under the back of the patient to provide feedback for proper posterior pelvic tilt exercises. By means of this experimental set-up training for these exercises was achieved easily and the quality of exercises was improved.