Introduction
Chronic pain syndrome is an illness that involves a persistent risk of debilitating painful episodes. It contributes to constant stress among patients, especially those who cannot predict the factors that lead to discomfort. This may lead to long-term emotional and physical disability and sufficiently limit a person’s quality of life.
As a result, people who experience this illness may substantially change their lifestyle and undergo lengthy procedures before they learn to live with this syndrome. However, recent advancements in digital technologies have allowed mobile applications in treatment and rehabilitation processes. To properly analyze their effectiveness, it is essential to understand how these apps work, why they should guarantee personal information safety, and how to properly implement them into daily life.
Benefits of Health Apps
The most notable usage of mobile tools in treating chronic pain is tracking the episodes. According to Ali et al. (2020), most applications present a convenient framework for making notes on pain intensity and interference with daily activities. Other applications also focus on specific locations, qualities, and factors that may provoke future attacks.
A study by Charoenpol et al. (2022) found that some patients who used these tools could systematize their knowledge of the illness and identify the circumstances they should avoid. This leads to noticeable changes in episode rates and intensity as the number of provoking factors decreases due to the users identifying the causes. The applications also reduce the stress level connected to the unpredictable nature of chronic pain syndrome and allow the patients to prepare for the episode in advance (Ali et al., 2020). This directly addresses the users’ needs to control their regimen in accordance with individual risk factors. Thus, the tracking applications show great potential to substantially decrease the severity of chronic pain and treat it more effectively.
Applications that gather information about patients’ health must have a robust system in place to protect patient privacy. This topic is discussed by Pastorino et al. (2019), who conclude that, although massive data collection may be necessary for the future development of advisory algorithms, it should be encoded and depersonalized. The authors state that the application must implement an encryption protocol or only use local information to prevent breaches (Pastorino et al., 2019). Any data leaks may have a detrimental impact on the patient’s safety and well-being, as these resources may be used for identity theft or fraud. Therefore, collected information should be protected or kept locally on users’ devices to guarantee privacy and confidentiality.
New users should also be instructed on the topic of device hygiene and disinfection methods. As a news report uploaded by Nunes (2020) illustrates, the general public is not well-informed about the proper techniques for cleaning their electronic devices. As some of the target audiences for these applications consist of older people, they may damage the device using harsh cleaners (Charoenpol et al., 2022).
Medical instructors who suggest using digital tools to track chronic pain should also provide protocols for safe disinfection and sterilization to minimize the risk of spreading infection. Patients may be advised to use methods based on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (2019) website recommendations. However, medical professionals should adjust the algorithms to make them suitable for daily use at home. Therefore, all patients who use mobile devices should know how to clean them without damaging the phone.
Conclusion
In conclusion, mobile applications can significantly improve the quality of life for patients experiencing chronic pain. The existing tools allow users to track episodes and identify risk factors. This also benefits the emotional state and reduces stress, further satisfying patients’ needs. At the same time, these applications should guarantee privacy and confidentiality by appropriately protecting gathered data. Additionally, all patients must be instructed on how to maintain and disinfect the device at home to prevent the spread of infection through personal belongings.
References
Ali, S. M., Lau, W. J., McBeth, J., Dixon, W. G., & van der Veer, S. N. (2021). Digital manikins to self‐report pain on a smartphone: A systematic review of mobile apps. European Journal of Pain (London, England), 25(2), 327–338.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2019). Disinfection & Sterilization guidelines.
Charoenpol, F.-N., Tontisirin, N., Leerapan, B., Seangrung, R., & Finlayson, R. (2019). Pain experiences and intrapersonal change among patients with chronic non-cancer pain after using a pain diary: a mixed-methods study. Journal of Pain Research, 12, 477–487.
Nunes, C. (2020). Cleaning electronic devices of COVID-19 / Coronavirus. Youtube.
Pastorino, R., De Vito, C., Migliara, G., Glocker, K., Binenbaum, I., Ricciardi, W., & Boccia, S. (2019). Benefits and challenges of Big Data in healthcare: an overview of the European initiatives. European Journal of Public Health, 29(Supplement_3), 23–27.