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Updated: Jun 4, 2026

The Use of Thermal Infra-Red Imaging to Detect Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness
Published on: January 22, 2012
Intra-examiner and inter-examiner reproducibility of paraspinal thermography
Matthew McCoy1, Ismay Campbell, Pamela Stone
1Division of Clinical Sciences, Life University College of Chiropractic, Marietta, Georgia, United States of America. matthewmccoy@comcast.net
Objective:
The objective of this study was to evaluate the intra-examiner and inter-examiner reproducibility of paraspinal thermography using an infrared scanner.
Materials And Methods:
The thermal functions of a commercially available infrared scanner (Insight Subluxation Station®) were evaluated for clinical reliability. Two practicing clinicians conducted the measures on 100 subjects. Intra class correlation coefficients (ICCs) and concordance correlation coefficients (CCCs) were calculated from the collected data.
Results:
Mean bilateral paraspinal skin temperature was 89.78° F and ranged from 88.77° F to 91.43° F. Intra class correlation coefficients (ICCs) for agreement and consistency ranged from 0.959 to 0.976. Concordance correlation coefficients (CCCs) ranged from 0.783 to 0.859 with tight confidence intervals indicating robust estimates of these quantities.
Conclusion:
This study revealed excellent intra-examiner and inter-examiner reproducibility of paraspinal thermography using a commercially available unit.
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