Process for diagnosing spinal conditions

Claim 1

A process for diagnosing abnormal spinal conditions comprising the steps of: placing the patient whose spinal abnormality is to be diagnosed in a standing position in a room free from random draft, and free from a source of radiant heat in order to provide a uniform heat loss about the patient's body; spraying each side of the patient's skin with an evaporative liquid while the patient's legs are not touching each other and the patient's arms are not touching any part of the patient's body; uniformly blowing room temperature air on the patient's skin to allow the evaporative liquid to evaporate thereby cooling the skin surface; waiting while the patient stands in a relaxed manner in the room for a period of from three to fifteen minutes to permit the skin surface temperature to return in part to normal; measuring the skin surface temperature to determine the mean skin temperature; mapping the areas of differential skin surface temperature about the patient's torso and limbs including areas remote from the site of pain where said temperature differs from the mean skin temperature by at least one degree centigrade above or below said mean skin temperature to locate a pattern characteristic of a particular injury; and determining the area of the spinal abnormality by comparing the map of the areas of differential skin surface temperature with the peripheral distribution of particular sympathetic sensory nerves near the spinal abnormality.