Dissertation on the Application of DAid Smart Shirt Technology in the Treatment of Patients with Subacromial Pain Syndrome

The use of wearable technologies in personalised medicine, such as smart textile garments, has increased in recent years including in physiotherapy. Guna Semjonova, a doctoral student at Rīga Stradiņš University (RSU) and physiotherapist, has focused on the meaningful and evidence-based use of wearable technologies in physiotherapy since 2014. She first came across them in a clinical setting during an Erasmus+ exchange programme in Finland.

In 2016, Semjonova started an interdisciplinary collaboration with researchers from the Institute of Design Technologies and the Institute of Biomedical Engineering and Nanotechnologies at Riga Technical University (RTU). They have created smart textile sensors that Semjonova later used in her research (Patent No. LV 14920).

The collaboration resulted in the development of a prototype of a DAid smart shirt. This can be used in physiotherapy on patients with subacromial pain syndrome. The DAid smart textile shirt is designed to monitor shoulder girdle motion and allows for the assessment of shoulder girdle movements during high-intensity activities.

Photo from Guna Semjonova's private archive

Subacromial pain syndrome is one of the most common diagnoses, with 40% of cases being monitored by a family physician. Physiotherapy is an integral part of rehabilitation for these patients. Movement monitoring is especially important, and the use of smart textile garments have been introduced to shoulder physiotherapy as part of this research. The aim of the dissertation is to investigate the impact of the DAid smart shirt prototype on patients’ functional results and their DASH (Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder and Hand) scores.

The author concludes that patients with subacromial pain syndrome who use the DAid smart shirt prototype in physiotherapy demonstrate better functional test results and achieve better DASH scores compared to those who use conventional physiotherapy methods.

Guna Semjonova will defend her thesis titled “The Application of DAid Smart Shirt Technology in the Treatment of Patients with Subacromial Pain Syndrome” at an open session on 4 November 2022. Everyone is welcome to attend and learn about the development process of the DAid smart shirt prototype, its practical application and learn about the research results in detail.

Further information

Supervisors: RSU Prof. Jānis Vētra and RTU Prof. Aleksandrs Okss.

RSU dissertation catalogue