Fuzzy Pain Assessment in Musculoskeletal Disorder

A fuzzy decision support system for the evaluation of musculoskeletal pain based on fuzzy unidimensional pain scales and fuzzy multidimensional professional-social-sexual scale is presented. The subjective, inaccurate, unclear, and vague pain perception is described by using fuzzy set theory and fuzzy logic. The proposed approach advantages by its ability to explain the direct relationships of musculoskeletal pain that are not linguistically well understood and the freedom of movement leading to an effective pain assessment tool. The Fuzzy Musculoskeletal Pain Scale (FUMPS) is submitted to the evaluation of amplitude of movement concerning shoulder flexion and shoulder extension rating the intensity of the pain. The proposed fuzzy musculoskeletal pain assessment dealing with Flexion-Extension (FE) Shoulder Range of Motion Analysis (FE-FUMPS) is characterized by being comprehensive and consistent to clinical practice. The Fuzzy Pain Assessment for Patients with Musculoskeletal Disorder becomes an affordable and comprehensive approach to deal with the complexity associated to the clinical aspects of pain.