| Summary: | ABSTRACT Pain is an abstract concept which varies from person to person. The current pain measurement techniques rely solely on a patient's tolerance to pain and the ability to communicate the said pain. Hence, there is a need for a comprehensive and objective system to evaluate pain. This need stems from the general difficulty doctors and patients experience when self-reporting their pain levels, as well as cases where the patients may be untruthful or unable to communicate
their pain levels. An objective system, one used in parallel with the current subjective methods, may help doctors effectively manage pain and prescribe the correct medication, as well as the appropriate doses. This thesis will study and evaluate the similarities and differences between chronic pain and acute pain through testing various biosensors such as electroencephalogram (EEG), respiration rate (RR), galvanic skin response (GSR), electromyography (EMG), etc. This system of sensors
will be tested on approximately thirty subjects here at Northeastern University, and thirty patients with chronic lower back pain at the Brigham's Women's Hospital, pending the approval of the IRB. The patients will be instructed to go through a series of maneuvers and the sensors attached will record the pain level of the subject. From there, the collected data will be analyzed to determine any statistically significant sensors. Along with the above-mentioned points, this thesis
focuses on designing and justifying an appropriate apparatus to carry all the equipment in an efficient and functional manner to make the testing, data reading and evaluation as easy and consistent as possible for the user and the patient.
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