Sensors, Vol. 24, Pages 1904: The Potential Role of Wearable Inertial Sensors in Laboring Women with Walking Epidural Analgesia

Sensors, Vol. 24, Pages 1904: The Potential Role of Wearable Inertial Sensors in Laboring Women with Walking Epidural Analgesia Sensors doi: 10.3390/s24061904 Authors: Mikhail Dziadzko Adrien Péneaud Lionel Bouvet Thomas Robert Laetitia Fradet David Desseauve There is a growing interest in wearable inertial sensors to monitor and analyze the movements of pregnant women. The noninvasive and discrete nature of these sensors, integrated into devices accumulating large datasets, offers a unique opportunity to study the dynamic changes in movement patterns during the rapid physical transformations induced by pregnancy. However, the final cut of the third trimester of pregnancy, particularly the first stage of labor up to delivery, remains underexplored. The growing popularity of “walking epidural”, a neuraxial analgesia method allowing motor function preservation, ambulation, and free movement throughout labor and during delivery, opens new opportunities to study the biomechanics of labor using inertial sensors. Critical research gaps exist in parturient fall prediction and detection during walking epidural and understanding pain dynamics during labor, particularly in the presence of pelvic girdle pain. The analysis of fetal descent, upright positions, and their relationship with dynamic pelvic movements facilitated by walking during labor is another area where inertial sensors can play an interesting role. Moreover, as contemporary o...
Source: Sensors - Category: Biotechnology Authors: Tags: Communication Source Type: research