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Paraspinal skin temperature patterns: an interexaminer and intraexaminer reliability study
Edward F Owens1, John F Hart, Joseph J Donofrio
1Palmer Center for Chiropractic Research, 741 Brady Street, Davenport, IA 52803, USA. edward.owens@palmer.edu
Summary
Paraspinal thermography using the TyTron C-3000 shows high reliability for chiropractors. This digital infrared scanning equipment accurately reproduces thermal patterns, indicating physiological changes rather than equipment error.
Area of Science:
- Chiropractic research
- Medical thermography
- Biomedical engineering
Background:
- Paraspinal thermography is a chiropractic tool for assessing vertebral subluxation.
- Previous reliability studies yielded mixed results.
- Digital infrared scanners with location tracking may improve reproducibility.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the reproducibility of thermal patterns by examiners.
- To assess the reliability of paraspinal thermography with digital infrared scanning equipment.
Main Methods:
- Repeated measures design with 2 examiners and 30 asymptomatic students.
- Utilized a TyTron C-3000 thermographic scanner interfaced to a PC.
- Calculated intraexaminer and interexaminer intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC).
Main Results:
- High intraexaminer ICCs (0.953–0.984) and interexaminer ICCs (0.918–0.975).
- Skin temperatures remained stable during the scanning procedure.
- Left and right channel data showed slightly higher congruence than the Delta channel.
Conclusions:
- Paraspinal thermal scans using the TyTron C-3000 demonstrate very high intraexaminer and interexaminer reliability (ICC 0.91–0.98).
- High reliability suggests observed thermal changes are likely physiological, not equipment-induced.