Laser Therapy: Thermal Imaging Guided Laser Therapy: Part 1
by William J. Kneebone, RN, DC
 Infrared thermography or infrared imaging is an
exciting and valuable tool that has many applications in healthcare. In part 1 of this
series, I will review some of the basic principles and history of thermal imaging. In part
2, I will discuss and illustrate its use in guiding laser therapy.
History
A Canadian physician, Dr. Ray Lawson, established the first known medical application for
modern thermography with extensive research regarding breast patterns. He published his
first paper in 1956, titled “Implications of surface temperature in the diagnosis of
breast cancer.”1 Thirty years of clinical use and more than 8,000
peer-reviewed studies in the medical literature have established thermography as a safe
and effective means to examine the human body. It is completely non-invasive and, as such,
does not require the use of radiation or other potentially harmful elements. Medical
research has shown thermography to be a useful tool in research as well as being helpful
in the diagnosis of breast cancer, nervous system disorders, metabolic disorders, neck and
back problems, pain syndromes, arthritis, vascular disorders, and soft tissue injuries
among others.2
Every object at temperatures above Absolute Zero (0 degrees Kelvin or -273.15 degrees
Celsius) emits thermal radiation, much of it in the infrared portion of the
electromagnetic (EM) spectrum. Objects that are very hot emit thermal radiation that is in
the visible and even the ultraviolet portion of the EM spectrum as well as the
infrared—such as an incandescent light bulb or our local star that we call the sun.
The IR or infrared portion of the EM spectrum occupies roughly the wavelength region
between 10-4 to 10-3 centimeters, or from about 1 micron to about 100 microns (see Figure
1).
— Jul/Aug 2009
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