Determining The Source of Your Pain

Determining the source of your pain can be difficult when you only have the immediate symptoms to direct you. Targeting the source of the pain is key to determining how to resolve it and resolving it successfully.

In this instance the client suffered a sudden onset of knee pain with no obvious source. Given his age it was assumed that it was arthritis causing the pain and medication was prescribed. With no significant improvement thermal imaging was used to provide a set of images that would give more information and help determine the cause.

In the first image we see an abnormal hyperthermic pattern on the medial and lateral right knee (the painful knee) as well as the shin. Just looking at this image alone it could be assumed that the source of the issue had been found. However, the image of the lateral right leg showed an abnormal pattern in the upper thigh which led down to the knee. The location of this abnormal pattern is consistent with the IT band (iliotibial band) which, if inflamed, can cause considerable knee pain.

The results of the thermal images helped the client to decide to see a physiotherapist as the next action. The physiotherapist identified a clear case of IT band syndrome and was able to successfully treat it with the issue being completely resolved.