Resident Posture Biofeedback Study

Check Yourself Before You Wreck Yourself: A Wearable Biofeedback Device to Decrease Surgical Resident's Time in a Non-upright Posture and Work-related Musculoskeletal Pain

While a majority of surgical ergonomic studies have been evaluating attending surgeons, few have evaluated surgical ergonomics within the surgical resident. Biofeedback devices can be partnered with education and geared towards surgical residents to decrease current and future musculoskeletal disorders, which may in turn lead to longer and more fulfilling careers.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Healthy; Postural; Strain
• Intervention / Treatment: Device: Posture Biofeedback Device

Detailed Description

This study aims to use a commercially-available posture training device for surgical residents that sends biofeedback in the form of a gentle vibration if posture has deviated from the upright (neutral) position for a long period of time. For residents performing minimally-invasive procedures with a laparoscopic approach, our overarching hypothesis is that the time spent in a non-upright position will be less after using the posture biofeedback device compared with before. The study hypothesizes that residents will report fewer complaints related to musculoskeletal pain after wearing the posture training device.

Residents completing general surgery rotations will be recruited and wear a biofeedback device for about four weeks while performing laparoscopic procedures. Posture data from the device and survey data in the form of the Cornell Musculoskeletal Discomfort Questionnaire (CMDQ) will be collected and analyzed.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 12
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • North Carolina
    • Winston-Salem, North Carolina, United States, 27157
      • Wake Forest University Health Sciences

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Adult; Older Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Surgical residents with surgical experience of at least one year (Postgraduate year 2-5)
• Completing a one-month rotation at the study sites within the general surgery department during the study period

Exclusion Criteria:

• Clinically diagnosed inflammatory musculoskeletal disorders per self-report
• History of orthopedic surgery in the last six months per self-report

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Other
• Allocation: N/A
• Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

1

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Other: Residents; This is a single arm study. All Resident participants will use the posture biofeedback device.	Device: Posture Biofeedback Device; Participants will wear a commercially available posture training device for a two-week tracking period and a two-week training period while performing laparoscopic procedures.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Time spent in upright vs non-upright position	proportion (percentage) of time (minutes) in the upright position relative to the non-upright position during laparoscopic procedures	week 1 to week 4]

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change in Self-reported musculoskeletal pain score	Complaints related to musculoskeletal pain assessed using the Cornell Musculoskeletal Discomfort Questionnaire (CMDQ) - measures self-reported musculoskeletal discomfort for all body segments. 1 = low (score 1-2) 2 = moderate (score 3-4) 3 = high (score 5-7) 4 = very high (score 8-10 - higher scores meaning more discomfort	baseline to week 4

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Wake Forest University Health Sciences
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: William Sherrill, MD, Wake Forest University Health Sciences

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): September 26, 2024
• Primary Completion (Actual): November 2, 2025
• Study Completion (Actual): November 2, 2025

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: August 19, 2024
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: August 19, 2024
• First Posted (Actual): August 21, 2024

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): December 17, 2025
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: December 10, 2025
• Last Verified: November 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Surgery; Biofeedback; Surgical Resident
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Wounds and Injuries; Sprains and Strains
• Other Study ID Numbers: IRB00115419

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: Yes