Spinal Column Needle with a Force Feedback: Introductory Study

Chronic back pain is a well-established health problem, and sufferers should be able to get life-changing medication through safe and accurate injection methods. Although spinal column injections can be performed with imaging support, there is a risk of inaccuracy at a fraction millimetres. Subjective approaches, such as loss of resistance, are difficult to learn and require substantial training. These treatments endanger the patient's life since the needle may be inserted into the wrong tissue, causing nerve damage. The tactile input would assist the surgeon in determining which sort of tissue they had placed the needle into during the touching stage. This study proposes the development of a device capable of sensing the touching point and returning a signal indicating the magnitude of pressing force. In vitro testing of the device was performed using a spinal model. The results demonstrate that the device successfully provides force feedback indicating distinct tissue model types.