All the tissues that support, connect, or surround the other structure or organ are called

soft tissues. It includes ligaments, fascia, nerves, blood vessels, synovial membranes, etc.

These tissues with bone provide the structure of the body.

Any injuries to these tissues are called musculoskeletal injuries. Generally, these injuries

are a result of direct blow, strain, or sprain; barring major complications soft tissue

injuries are not life threatening. These injuries affect the natural movement of human

body. Hence, these injuries decrease the quality of life. The musculoskeletal injuries can

be classified in two groups namely closed wounds and open wounds. The assessment of

open wound is relatively easy. The edge and color of wound can be the indicators of the

health of the wound. For example, pink edges indicate growth of new tissue; dusky edges

indicate hypoxia. Similarly, the proximity of edge can be a sign of healing.

On the other hand, the assessment of close wound is very subjective. Magnetic

Resonance Imaging (MRI), X-rays or ultrasound are usually performed to diagnose the

musculoskeletal injuries, but an MRI is very costly and time consuming. Further, the

exposure to high magnetic field can disturb the normal functioning of thermoregulation

of the body. X-ray is radiative in nature; moreover, it can only see the damage to bone.

Ultrasound is a very subjective technique. Further, most of the existing technology can

only see the anatomical changes. So, in order to assess the musculoskeletal injuries other

technique needs to be explored.

One of the exciting aspects of the human body is self-regulating heat mechanism. The

distribution of body temperature depends on the complex relationship that is defined by

heat exchange process between skin, tissue, inner tissue, local vascular and metabolic

activity. The heat profile of normal person would be maintained by thermoregulation

using blood flow, but due to the disease or any other injury, it would be disturbed. If

there is ample supply of blood, then the temperature of the body remains higher,

whenever it is blocked by some mechanical or biological activity then that part is bound

to have lower temperature. The blockage and excess supply of blood is known as

vasoconstriction and vasodilation respectively. This disturbance can be used as an

indicator to detect the disease or injury. This abnormality or thermal disturbance created

by disease is detected by a non-contact, non-radiative and less time-consuming technique

called thermal imaging (TI). So, the potential of thermal imaging technique is observed

for the assessment of musculoskeletal injuries. The focussed diseases for this study are a).

Knee osteoarthritis (OA), b). Total knee replacement.