On Saturday, 22 July 2023, the Department of Occupational Safety and Health (OHS) Faculty of Public Health (FPH) Universitas Indonesia (UI) held an Online Seminar with the theme “Preventive, Promotive, and Handling Low Back Pain with the Augmented Reality Innovation Method to Improve Quality of Life”. The online seminar, which is the 5th series of the FPH UI seminar series, presented a Lecturer in the Spine Surgery Subspecialist Study Program, Faculty of Medicine, University of Indonesia, dr. Harmantya Mahadhipta, Sp.OT (K) Spine., as the main resource person.
“Low back pain is not a health problem that can be underestimated. At least 80% of the global population has experienced low back pain,” said dr. Harmantya Mahadhipta, Sp.OT (K)Spine., started delivering his material on the importance of preventing and treating low back pain.
Low back pain is known as the highest cause of work absences. More than 90% of cases of low back pain are caused by pain in the lumbar muscles. Therefore, the best prevention for low back pain is to train the core muscles that surround the spine, such as the upper abdominal muscles, lower abdominal muscles, upper back, and lower back. according to dr. Harmantya, Indonesian people still don’t understand the problem of low back pain. “Indonesian people still tend to ignore low back pain, even though there are several signs to watch out for. If pain often occurs at night while resting, there is weight loss, trauma, accompanied by fever, neurological deficits, and occurs in children, it should be treated immediately,” said dr. Harmantya.
“There are actually 3 types of low back pain treatment, namely conservative therapy, pain management intervention, and finally surgery. Conservative therapy is carried out for 8-12 weeks, if it does not improve, then proceed to pain management intervention. For the operation itself is the last form of treatment. Only 1 out of 10 patients with low back pain needs surgery,” explained dr. Harmantya further.
Along with the development of technology, low back pain is also getting easier to handle. There is a technology called augmented reality that combines patient reality and imagination in the form of patient data, which is then projected into an image. Augmented reality allows for more precise handling of low back pain with an accuracy of up to 98%. Apart from that, there is also robotic spine surgery which can speed up spinal surgery without the need for radiation so that it requires a shorter time for postoperative recovery. “If technology is combined with the knowledge and experience possessed by surgeons, the results will be excellent,” concluded dr. Harmantya.
”Low back pain is one of the most eagerly awaited topics given its relatively high prevalence in Indonesia. FPH UI will continue to contribute to increasing public understanding of health issues, one of which is through this seminar,” said Deputy Dean for Resources, Ventures and General Administration, Dr. Milla Herdayati, S.K.M., M.Sc., in her remarks. (WR)
