Development of Digital Body Map as a Tool for Diagnostics, Therapy, and Communication in Veterinary Medicine

Background: The importance of a tailored diagnosis and a fast understanding of the functional interdependencies of the clinical findings is proving increasingly important in physical and rehabilitative medicine (PRM).

Materials and Methods: The standardized physical functional examination used to develop a digitalized body map in dogs is based on a compilation of various established veterinary evaluation methods. Qualitative and semiquantitative palpation findings were visualized in a digital 2D body map using seven colour-encoding. The body map gave an overview of the actual affected musculoskeletal regions and helped to make further diagnostic and therapeutic decisions, for example, body maps of medial patellar luxation ([Fig. 1]) and lumbosacral syndrome that were further processed with artificial intelligence (AI).

Fig. 1 (A) Dog diagnosed with medial patellar luxation grade 1, left side worse than right; (B) Digital body map.

Results: The presented physical functional examination and its visualization in a body map gave a fast overview of the affected musculoskeletal regions. It helped to ease communication with the surgeon, PRM team and the pet owner to design an interdisciplinary diagnostic and therapeutic plan, delegate the chosen steps to others, as well as to monitor the clinical progression.

Conclusion: Body maps visualize clinical findings and ease veterinarian workflow. The encoded information processed with AI may supply the veterinarian with medical information and/or diagnostic/therapeutic suggestions.

Publication History

Article published online:
12 September 2025