What changes in skin temperature can tell us about your health
- Carson Sander
- May 7
- 2 min read
A 2013 clinical study highlights why thermography matters — and how temperature changes can reveal what’s happening beneath the surface.
What the study found
Researchers from Dankook University investigated skin temperature changes in patients with unilateral lumbosacral radiculopathy (a condition where nerve root irritation leads to pain, numbness or weakness in the legs). Using digital infrared thermographic imaging (DITI), they found:
97% of patients showed abnormal temperature differences in at least one region of their back or legs.
The affected areas were typically colder — 79% of cases showed hypothermia (lower skin temperature) on the problem side.
These cold spots often correlated with muscle weakness and disc herniations seen in MRI scans.
Interestingly, traditional tests like pain severity or sensory exams often did not line up with temperature changes, suggesting thermography provides unique, complementary insights that other tools can miss.
Why this matters
This research backs a core principle behind our technology: skin temperature changes can reflect deeper musculoskeletal and neurological health issues. In this case, lower skin temperatures likely resulted from muscle atrophy and nerve involvement — data that traditional scans and tests might overlook or detect only later in disease progression.
By integrating thermography with bioimpedance and ECG in a user-friendly, non-invasive platform, PhantomOmics aims to detect these subtle, early changes. Whether it’s nerve compression, muscular degeneration or circulatory dysfunction, combining these modalities provides a richer, more holistic picture of health — long before major symptoms appear.
Thermography isn’t just heat maps. It’s health intelligence.
As studies like this show, thermography is more than a surface-level tool. It’s a window into the body’s inner workings — a window PhantomOmics is working to widen every day. Read the full paper here:
