2022 Volume 59 Issue 1 Pages 10-15
The cold patterns of sufferers from cold were previously considered to be a single condition. However, they are now classified as 6 types based on the thermal distribution patterns on the body surface and the thermal gradient in the body. These patterns comprise four basic types (inferior limb type, distal limb type, internal type and systemic type), and two additional types (localized type and mixed type). Investigation of the autonomic balance of the four basic types of cold has revealed sympathetic hypertonia of the lower extremity in the case of inferior limb type without hot feeling of upper part of the body and additional central parasympathetic dominance in the case of inferior limb type with hot feeling of upper part of the body, peripheral sympathetic hypertonicity in the distal limb type, peripheral sympathetic hypertonia and the central parasympathetic dominance in the internal type, and the central sympathetic dominance in the systemic type. It is thought that these differences in autonomic nervous function affect heat production, heat transfer and heat dissipation in the thermal account, and cause various pathological conditions in patients suffering from cold.
