Article preview reprinted from Start Up - June 2009
Low back pain affects 80% of Americans and is a leading cause of disability. Yet even though soft tissues including muscles are the primary source of this pain, many physicians neglect them and focus instead on spinal vertebrae, discs and nerves. And in cases where muscles are considered, pinpointing the exact muscle that causes the pain is extremely difficult with today's conventional diagnostic methods. The muscle pain detection device from SPOC Inc. (Stevens Proof of Concept) is noninvasive technology that uses electrical stimulation to diagnose muscle pain in any part of the body. The company believes its use will prevent many unnecessary spine surgeries that result in failed back surgery syndrome, which can occur in as many as 50% of cases. Read on...
Article preview reprinted from Start Up - June 2009
SPOC Inc. (Stevens Proof of Concept)
Low back pain disables 65,000 people in the US each year and is the third leading cause of disability. Yet, even though soft tissue that includes muscles are the primary source of this pain, many physicians neglect them and focus instead on spinal vertebrae, discs, and nerves. And in cases where muscles are considered, pinpointing the exact muscle that causes the pain is extremely difficult with today's conventional diagnostic methods. In fact, 85% of back pain cases are diagnosed as "non-specific or idiopathic low back pain," and are believed to be caused by sprains and strains of soft tissue.
Neglecting or misdiagnosing muscular pain can lead to costly, unnecessary and failed surgeries for the roughly 80% of Americans who experience back or neck pain at some point in their lifetime. The US spends approximately $86 billion annually for the treatment of back and neck pain, accounting for 2.5% of the nation's total health care bill, according to a Duke University study.
The standard approach to diagnose a patient's suspected muscle pain is manual pressure or palpation; however, this method frequently identifies muscles that are tender but are not the true source of pain in a region of the body. Likewise, current technologies are unable to image muscles.
The muscle pain detection device (MPDD) from SPOC Inc. (Stevens Proof of Concept) is noninvasive technology that uses electrical stimulation to diagnose muscle pain in any part of the body. Focusing the electrical current beneath the skin minimizes discomfort. The metal moveable electrode allows the stimulus to be run along the entirety of the muscle, from the beginning to the end. "If there is pain along the course of that particular muscle, and not along the adjacent muscles, we can say with a high degree of confidence that the pain is emanating from that specific muscle," says Norman Marcus, SPOC's CMO and the inventor of the technology.
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Companies mentioned in this article:
SPOC Inc. (Stevens Proof of Concept)
- Start-Up Previews (06/2009), IN VIVO 6/2009
- Is Spine Surgery Under Assault?, IN VIVO 5/2008
- Ortho Dx: Where Does It Hurt?, IN VIVO 6/2007
- OrthoMEMS: Measuring What Matters in Spine, IN VIVO 3/2007
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No publication reviews leading edge companies and technology better than START-UP. Each issue of START-UP profiles the most important new product companies, identifies the hottest technology areas, reviews funds flowing into private companies and investment trends, and reports on university tech transfer licensing. Industries covered: pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, medical equipment & devices, and in vitro diagnostics.
