The Prospective Use of Smart Wearable Technology: Objective Functional Evaluation Following Endoscopic Spine Surgery

Objective: This study aimed to assess the relationship between subjective measures and wearable technology-based parameters, including heart rate, step count, and distance traveled, in the evaluation of postoperative status among patients with lumbar disc herniation undergoing interlaminar percutaneous endoscopic lumbar discectomy (PELD).Methods: This pilot prospective cohort study used consecutive sampling in patients with lumbar disc herniation who underwent interlaminar PELD at Dr. Sardjito Hospital. Objective parameters obtained from wearable devices, including heart rate, average daily step count, and distance traveled, and subjective parameters obtained from questionnaires, including the visual analogue scale (VAS), Oswestry Disability Index (ODI), and Sciatica Bothersomeness Index (SBI), were assessed from 2 weeks before surgery to 4 weeks after surgery. The wearable device used in this study was the Xiaomi Mi Band 4. Parameters were analyzed using paired-sample t-tests for preoperative and postoperative comparisons, Pearson correlation analysis to assess associations between wearable-based and questionnaire-based parameters, and multivariate linear regression for exploratory predictive analysis.Results: Results from 21 patients showed significant correlations between daily step count and distance traveled and the VAS, ODI, and SBI measures. However, heart rate was significantly correlated only with SBI. Multivariate linear regression analysis evaluating the predictive ability of objective parameters for surgical outcomes yielded nonsignificant results.Conclusion: Objective parameters derived from wearable technology did not predict patient satisfaction as measured by standardized questionnaire-based instruments after interlaminar PELD. Therefore, these measures appear to be complementary, together providing a more comprehensive assessment of surgical outcomes.