This phase I SBIR seeks to establish the feasibility of using quantitative thermography to identify the clinical effects of spinal unloading in patients with radicular symptoms. Unloading therapy will be performed in patients with radicular symptoms and associated back pain while concurrently recording using infared (IR) images, surface temperatures and changes in cutaneous blood flow (using Laser Doppler measurements). These tests seek establish the feasibility of using microbolometer based IR imaging to analyze the effectiveness of the unloading therapy. Image processing software will be used to quantifying of regional changes in cutaneous temperature. Spinal unloading will be done using the LTX 3000(tm) Lumbar Rehabilitation System. In phase II, we will complete the development of the system and test the clinical utility of a portable, low-cost quantitative thermography system to be used for serial imaging of a patient receiving spinal unloading therapy. The phase II goal is to apply this approach as a novel and affordable outcome analysis tool. Low back pain is a major socioeconomic problem in the industrialized world. In the United States, it is the second leading cause of worker absenteeism, yet the most expensive in terms of lost productivity. Nearly 80% of all adults experience low back pain at some time in their lives.2 Many people experience their first episode of low back pain in their early twenties, and it becomes more common as a person approaches his/her early sixties. ? ? ? ?
