Case Representation and Similarity Modeling for Non-Specific Musculoskeletal Disorders - A Case-Based Reasoning Approach

Abstract

This paper presents a method for developing case-based reasoning (CBR) application for discovering similar patients with non-specific musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) and recommending treatment plans using previous experiences. From a medical perspective, MSD is a complex disorder as its cause is often bounded to a combination of physiological and psychological factors. Likewise, the features describing the condition and outcome measures vary throughout studies. However, healthcare professionals in the field work in an experience-based way, therefore we chose CBR as the core methodology for developing a decision support system for physiotherapists which would assist them in the process of their co-decision making and treatment planning. In this paper, we focus on case representation and similarity modeling for the non-specific MSD patient data as well as we conducted initial experiments on comparing patient profiles.