In July we previewed three new features in beta alongside PulStar 11.0.51. With version 11.0.52, all three have finished beta testing and are ready for daily practice. This release also adds new force controls, along with a more accurate mobility score for individually adjusted vertebrae. Here is a closer look at what’s new, plus why each change matters in the clinic.
Spine Pattern Analysis: See What Keeps Coming Back
A single visit tells you where a patient’s spine is today. A series of visits tells you how it is responding to care. Spine Pattern Analysis is built around that second view.
The new Patterns tab on the Review screen looks back across a patient’s most recent visits (15 by default, expandable up to the full visit history) to surface trends that individual visit reviews can miss:
- Recurring red-bar locations: Levels that show fixation in the Pre-Analysis visit after visit, with a count of how often each one appears.
- Treatment-resistant areas: Locations where the red bar persists after the adjustment, so you can see exactly where restrictions are holding on.
- Locations that flare together: Pairs of levels that tend to appear in the same visits.
- Potential symptom regions: Flagged levels mapped to the body regions commonly associated with them, such as headache, neck, low back or hip/leg.
Turn on the optional AI summary for a short, plain-language overview of the key findings. The summary is generated on your Mac through Apple Intelligence, so patient data is not sent to an outside AI service. Spine patterns can also be included in printed reports. As with all PulStar analysis, these findings are reference information to support your clinical judgment, not a diagnosis.
Why this matters: Persistent patterns are often the most telling findings in a case. Spotting them at a glance helps you decide when to change your approach. It also gives your re-exams objective support that patients can understand.
The Imaging Tab: Patient Education With Their Own Images
Patients engage more when they can see their own spine. The new Imaging tab lets you view a patient’s DICOM studies, such as spine X-ray, CT or MRI, right on the Anatomy screen.
On the Review screen, the Imaging tab places the selected visit’s Pre or Post analysis graph beside the patient’s images. What the PulStar measured sits next to what the patient can see.
- Import DICOM files, folders or ZIP archives for the current patient
- Retrieve studies directly from an imaging center’s PACS server
- Add everyday photos (JPEG, PNG or HEIC), such as postural photos
- Drag on the image to adjust contrast or brightness, or choose a preset such as Bone or Spine
- Play back multi-frame studies with built-in cine playback
Imported imaging is stored encrypted with the patient’s record. Pair it with the stiffness graph during your report of findings for an even stronger visual story. For ideas on structuring that conversation, see From Stiffness Graph to Case Acceptance.
The Imaging tab is for patient education only. It is not for diagnostic use.
More Precise Control Over Rate & Force
Version 11.0.52 gives you finer control over how the PulStar behaves, with settings that stay the way you left them.
- Manual adjustment rate in Specific mode: Enter the exact rate value you want. The PulStar saves it between sessions, so your preferred rate is ready every time you return to Specific mode.
- Soft Tissue Force Default: A new setting on the Session preferences tab sets the force used whenever no vertebra or joint is selected. Prefer to let the system adapt? Turn on the option to learn the default from each session.
- Soft tissue force memory: When you return to a soft tissue mode, the force comes back to your default or the last force you used in that mode.
- Exact analysis force: Force changes during analysis are now always sent to the device at the exact level you select.
More Accurate Progress Reporting
The Adjusted increase in mobility value shows how much a joint improved after the adjustment. For individually adjusted vertebrae, such as a single cervical or thoracic vertebra, the PulStar previously always scored the joint above the adjusted segment.
Version 11.0.52 now scores whichever adjacent joint, above or below, showed the greater fixation in the Pre-Analysis. The Session & Review screens report the improvement where you actually made the adjustment. That means a more faithful number for pre/post comparisons, patient reports and your records.
A Better Fit on Every Display
The session screen now scales to fit smaller laptops as well as larger displays. Once you select a patient, the analysis & adjustment panels stay fully on screen. We also fixed the zoomed-in view on the Adjust screen, so the vertebra list stays centered on the spine image for every joint.
Update to 11.0.52 Today
Already using the PulStar? Update to 11.0.52 from the App Store to start using these features in your practice. The optional AI summary in Spine Pattern Analysis requires a Mac that supports Apple Intelligence running macOS 26 or later.
Evaluating the PulStar? Request a demo to see Spine Pattern Analysis, the Imaging tab plus the full PulStar analysis & adjusting system in action.
