Novel technology for mobility and balance tracking in patients with multiple sclerosis: a systematic review

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Mobility and balance impairments in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) are major factors for decreased quality of life. Novel sensing technologies have great potential to efficiently capture subtle changes in mobility and balance performance, and thus improve current practices by providing an easy-to-implement, objective, and continuous functional tracking in MS population.

Areas covered: This review details the collective findings of novel technology utilization in mobility and balance tracking in patients with MS. Thirty-three were systematically identified and included in this review. Pertinent methodological features (participant demographics, sensing technology, study aims, functional assessment protocols, and outcome measures) were extracted from each article. The construct validity, reliability, clinical relevance, and discriminative ability of sensor-based assessment in the MS population were summarized.

Expert commentary: Sensor-based balance and mobility assessment are valid in comparison with reference standard techniques and are reliable to measure performance in the MS population. Sensor-based measures are also associated with validated clinical outcomes and are sensitive to functional deficits in individuals with MS. Such technologies may greatly improve the likelihood of detecting mobility and balance dysfunctions in real-world environments, thus allowing healthcare professionals to monitor interventions and manage disease progression precisely and efficiently

Abbreviations: PwMS: Patients with Multiple Sclerosis; BBS: Berg Balance Scale; DGI: Dynamic Gait Index; ABC: Activity-specific Balance Confidence; T25FW: Timed 25 Foot Walk; 6MWT: 6 minute walk test; TUG: Timed Up and Go test; EO: Eyes Open; EC: Eyes Closed; ICC: Intraclass Correlation Coefficient; EDSS: Expanded Disability Status Scale; MFIS: Modified Fatigue Impact Scale; MSWS: Multiple Sclerosis Walking Scale; MSIS: Mutliple Sclerosis Impact Scale; PPA: Physiological Profile Assessment; HC: Healthy Control; AP: Anterior-posterior direction; ML: Mediolateral direction

KEYWORDS:

• Multiple sclerosis
• mobility
• balance
• sensing technology
• functional assessmen

Declaration of interest

JJ Sosnoff has received funding from the National Multiple Sclerosis Society (RG 5057-A-4, RG-1507-05433) and the Johnson & Johnson Inc. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.

Reviewer disclosures

Peer reviewers on this manuscript have no relevant financial or other relationships to disclose.

Additional information

Funding

This paper was not funded.