The use of thermography as an assessment tool in physical medicine and rehabilitation: a review study
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5935/0104-7795.20170027Keywords:
Thermography, Evaluation, RehabilitationAbstract
The infrared thermographic evaluation, given its capacity of detecting body temperature, may reveal physiological changes in clinical conditions that require physical rehabilitation. Objective: Was to identify publications that reported the use of thermography as a tool for evaluating clinical research outcomes in physical medicine and rehabilitation. Method: The MeSH term Thermography was the only descriptor in the search in PubMed database. Results: Out of 6957 articles, 316 were clinical trials, from which 304 were excluded for not fulfilling the eligibility criteria, and only 12 studies were included in the review. The articles were then classified according to the JADAD scale. Only three studies were rated as having good methodological quality. In the studies included, the clinical conditions were delayed onset muscle soreness, low back pain, rheumatoid arthritis, complex regional pain syndrome, myofascial pain syndrome, osteoarthritis, Raynaud's disease, and tendonitis. Several therapeutic interventions were used and laser therapy was reported in 5 different studies. Only one study did not manage to identify body temperature changes after the rehabilitation intervention, as measured by the thermography. Conclusion: This review has shown that a few studies, with low methodological quality, applied the thermography as a tool for evaluating physical medicine rehabilitation programs.
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