3D model helps patients track pain

Brunel University researchers have unveiled the world’s first 3D computer program to help patients record their pain. The system promises more detailed information to determine treatments and offer greater insight into the way pain travels around the body.

Patients in the initial trial with the Hillingdon Independent Wheelchair User Group (HIWUG) praised the high level of detail in the 3D model and the precise navigation control for collating pain data. The plan is for the prototype to contribute to better identification and subsequent best practice treatment of back pain - the second most common reason for people in the UK to visit their doctor, second only to the common cold.

The pain visualisation tool is displayed via a web browser as a 3D body. Users can log pain data on a PDA monitor at regular intervals. Pain can be classified as: burning, aching, stabbing, pins and needles, and numbness, with each pain type allocated a colour, which is represented on the 3D rotating tool.