Body charts in physiotherapy and aesthetics: one version per visit

A body chart in physiotherapy is a drawing of the body on which the professional marks, at each session, the areas and notes for that visit; in aesthetics it is used the same way, on a facial map. Its value lies in being able to compare visits, which is why it pays to save one version per visit instead of always correcting the same drawing.

What a body chart is and what it is used for

It is a graphic record: a drawing of the face or body with marks that pinpoint what was noted during the session. What in text forces you to describe a location in words is, on the map, a mark in the right place, and whoever looks at it understands at a glance where work was done.

In a clinic it is used mainly in two ways:

• Physiotherapy. The body drawing shows the areas the physiotherapist assessed or treated in the session, each with its own note.
• Aesthetic medicine and advanced aesthetics. The facial map shows the points and areas treated and, when a product is used, which one and from which batch.

What is marked and how it is interpreted is for the professional to decide. The software stores the drawing; it does not read it or draw conclusions from it.

On paper, the body chart is a printed template filled in with a pen and filed with the patient record. In digital form, the drawing is made on screen, with a finger on the tablet or with the mouse, and it stays inside the patient's file, alongside the session it belongs to.

The body chart is part of the medical record

If it records information about the care given, the map is treated like the rest of the medical record. The Spanish patient autonomy law, Ley 41/2002 does not mention body charts, but it defines clinical documentation as “the medium of any type or kind that contains a set of data and information of a care-related nature” (quotations from Spanish legislation in this article are our own translation, not an official text).

Three practical consequences follow:

• It goes with the patient's record. Not in a folder on the computer or in a photo on a phone. The law describes the medical record as a set of documents that seeks “the greatest possible integration of each patient's clinical documentation, at least within each centre” (article 14.1).
• It is kept with the record. If it forms part of the clinical documentation, the retention periods apply to it; we explain them in how long to keep a medical record.
• It is seen by whoever needs to see it. Reception does not need the map to book an appointment.

Why save one version per visit

Because a map that is corrected on top of itself loses what was seen at the previous visit. If the marks from the first session are erased in the third, there is no way to know what the map looked like at the start or what was marked at each visit.

Saving one version per visit gives you four things:

1. Comparison. See the first visit and the latest, or the previous one beneath today's.
2. Who and when. Article 14.1 of Ley 41/2002 refers to the documents of each patient's care processes “with the identification of the doctors and other professionals who have taken part in them”. A version with its author and date makes it clear who marked each map.
3. Continuity. If the patient moves from one professional to another, the second has every previous map in front of them and knows who made it.
4. Correcting without erasing. A mistake is fixed in a new version, and the previous one stays as it was.

A shared legend for the whole team

Two maps can only be compared if the whole team marks in the same way: the same types of mark, the same colours and the note in the same place. With four professionals and four ways of marking, a colleague's map is harder to read than a text note.

Before you start using it, agree as a team:

• Which types of mark you will use and what each colour means.
• How long the note on each mark should be: one line explaining the mark, not the progress of the session, which has its own section.
• If the mark involves a product, that the product, batch and quantity are recorded.
• Which treatment each map is linked to, so you can find it later.

It is an organisational decision, not a clinical one: how things are recorded, not what is assessed.

The body chart in Mi Clínica

In Mi Clínica the body chart is in each specialty's tab in the patient's file, and each visit is saved as a version. You mark on the drawing of the face or body, with a finger on the tablet or with the mouse: in aesthetic medicine and advanced aesthetics it opens on the front of the face, and in the other specialties, on the front of the body.

• Marks. Points, lines, areas and text, with each specialty's legend and colour: in physiotherapy, for example, pain or muscle tightness; in aesthetic medicine, injection, filler or laser. Each mark is linked to the nearest area of the drawing, which can be changed, and accepts a short note.
• Product and treatment. Marks can carry the batch and quantity used, and the map can be linked to a treatment from the catalogue.
• Versions. The version list shows, for each one, the date, time, professional and number of marks. With “Anterior en gris” (Previous in grey), the previous version appears beneath today's. Saved versions are read-only: to correct one, you start from it and save a new one.
• Authorship. Each version records who made the map and when, which cannot be changed by hand, and only a professional registered at the clinic can save maps.
• Access. Viewing the map requires clinical access, and a record is kept of who views the body chart.

How it fits into the daily routine of a physiotherapy clinic is covered in software for physiotherapy clinics, and the facial map with product and batch in software for aesthetic medicine clinics.

What to check in a digital body chart

If you are choosing software, ask to see it demonstrated with a test patient and look at the following:

1. Save a map, come back another day and check that the first one is still intact.
2. Try to correct an old map: the sensible behaviour is that it makes you create a new version.
3. See whether each version says who made it and when, and whether that is decided by the person writing or by the system.
4. Compare two visits without leaving the file.
5. Mark with a finger on the tablet you use in the consulting room, not just with the mouse.
6. Check which team members can view it and whether a record is kept of who opens it.

And one clarification: Mi Clínica is management software. It stores and organises what the professional marks on the map, but it does not diagnose or give health advice. The rest of its features are on the Mi Clínica page (in Spanish).

Sources consulted

Checked on 11 October 2026. We link to the original source so that you can consult the current text.

• Ley 41/2002, básica reguladora de la autonomía del paciente y de derechos y obligaciones en materia de información y documentación clínica (texto consolidado). BOE.