After the publication in 2021 of an article on thermography by Ismael Fernández in Sportärztezeitung, the German journal of sports medicine, a new work on infrared thermography and its application in sports medicine was published. In this case, it is Dr. Stefan Mattyasovszky (an orthopedic specialist and doctor of FSV Mainz 05, a German Bundesliga soccer team) who describes the importance of temperature measurement in musculoskeletal problems, especially in those in which the metabolism is affected.
As a specialist in Orthopedics, we have interviewed him to know more about how he has incorporated thermography into his daily routine and which is his professional point of view. You have the complete podcast episode here.
In the article published in the German magazine Sportärztezeitung, Dr. Stefan Mattyasovszky who also runs the orthopedics clinic Galenos in Mainz (Germany), explains how he uses thermography for both injury prevention and follow-up.
He describes some very interesting real clinical cases. Among them, we especially highlight the case of a patient who comes to the clinic with an inflammatory problem in the Achilles tendon (hyperthermia), as well as symptoms of nerve compression at the lumbar level with irradiation in the entire leg (hypothermia). This is remarkable as it is not very usual to find hypothermia (nerve compression) and hyperthermia (Achilles inflammation) in the same patient.
This case reminds us a lot of the one we saw in this post, where we evidenced an important hypothermic asymmetry in the affected leg in a case of severe radiculopathy. It is important to note that the ThermoHuman software is trained to return regions with hyperthermic asymmetry. For this reason, it is so necessary to carry out an interpretation after the automatic analysis, since in cases like this, we need to look at the hypothermic regions, which are not clearly marked.
We have chosen this case because we find it especially curious that the two opposite thermal behaviors (hyperthermia and hypothermia) occur simultaneously in the same patient. In the heel, as it is an inflammatory pathology: the thermal response is an increase in the surface temperature of the skin. On the other hand, in the same patient there is a neurological pathology: a compression of one or more of the nerve roots at the lumbar level that produces pain and irradiation in the entire leg.
Infrared thermography is a useful technology in orthopedics and sports medicine due to its fast, non-invasive, painless, objective and, above all, radiation-free. In addition, Dr. Mattyasovszky adds that the diagnostic interpretation of imaging tests is highly researcher-dependent and requires experience, but that thermography, coupled with automated analysis with ThermoHuman, give us objective data on the physiology of the tissue. It concludes by explaining the potential of thermography to become a valuable and innovative complementary imaging procedure in orthopedics and sports medicine.
We highly recommend you visit the original article from Sportärztezeitung, so that you can appreciate the real clinical cases with the original description of the author, Dr. Mattyasovszky.
If you have any questions or would like to make a comment, do not hesitate to write to us. We will be happy to read you.
ThermoHuman has had the support of the Funds of the European Union and the Community of Madrid through the Operational Programme on Youth Employment. Likewise, ThermoHuman within the framework of the Export Initiation Program of ICEX NEXT, had the support of ICEX and the co-financing of the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).
Thermohuman has received funding from the Centre for the Development of Industrial Technology (CDTI), in participation with the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), for the R+D activities involved in creating a new tool, based on thermography, for the prediction and prevention of rheumatoid arthritis. See project detail.
