mikehwang / sciatica-pain-analysis

Sciatica Pain Analysis

This project entails an analysis of a pain log that was kept for about 3 weeks from 2016-05-23 to 2016-06-10. The purpose of the log plus analysis is to help determine if the pain is getting worse and to help assist in the decision making of getting surgery. The intent is not to identify "fixes" for the pain nor to identify causes of the pain rather just track the pain.

What was logged?

The existence of pain was logged and decomposed into pain types (e.g. aching, sharp, tingling) and pain areas (e.g. calf, buttock, back).

Pain levels were not captured because of its challenge in accurately and consistently sampling this information. However, the answers to should surgery and to is hopeful can be an indirect way to gauge pain level. In moments of great pain, should surgery and is hopeful are 1 and 0 respectively.

Fields

Note that the type called boolean was represented as a numerical 0 (false, no, absent) or 1 (true, yes, exists) in the dataset.

Name	Type	Description
record date	date	date of sample
record time	time	local time of sample
record datetime	datetime	datetime of sample
ankle: ache	boolean	aching in the ankle
calf: ache	boolean	aching in the calf
calf: sharp	boolean	sharp pain in the calf
calf: tight	boolean	muscles feel tight in the calf
calf: tingling	boolean	pins-and-needles, tingling sensation in the calf
leg: numb	boolean	parts of the leg feel numb
thigh: ache	boolean	aching in the back of the thigh
buttock: ache	boolean	aching in the buttock
back: numb	boolean	numb feeling in the lower back
back: sore	boolean	soreness/aching in the lower back
back: stiff	boolean	lower back and midsection are stiff, lack of pain-free motion
should surgery	boolean	"Should I opt for the surgical procedure right at this moment?"
is hopeful	boolean	"Am I hopeful that I can recover without the surgical procedure?"
posture	string	position and posture of the body
is good posture	boolean	"Do I have good posture meaning is my spine in a good form?"
activity	string	"What am I doing now?"
activity prev	string	"What did I do previously?"
notable	string	arbitrary notes to things thought important

How were entries logged?

A best effort was taken to log entries consistently: consistently in frequency and consistently in unbias collection. The records were kept in a Google Sheet because:

1. The file could be accessed easily from many devies which lowers the challenge in data collection
2. The hotkey Ctrl - : (prints current date) and Ctrl - Shift - : (prints current local time) are crucial in recording time easier and consistent

Some columns were added in the middle of the data collection period because new sensations were observed. The previous records were marked as zero when columns are added rather than a blank or a NA.