Clinical Studies in Thermography

Abstract

Thermography is a relatively new technique with which numerous temperature measurements from adjacent areas of the skin surface may be compared accurately and recorded pictorially. Although most thermographic examinations, presented here, were in the lower region of the back, traumatic soft-tissue injuries to other regions were also examined thermographically. Results demonstrated that thermography is extremely useful in objective evaluation of acute musculoligamentous injuries. Also, thermograms of the low back were obtained on 34 persons undergoing routine preplacement physical examinations. Of the asymptomatic persons, ten (30%) had abnormal thermographic findings, whereas, only five (15%) had abnormal roentgenograms. A long-term study is now in progress to determine if asymptomatic persons with abnormal thermograms have “unstable backs” and are more susceptible to low back strain than persons with normal thermograms.