Abstract
In order to judge the efficacy of physical therapy (PT) for pain, this paper reviewed the physiology of pain, and explored the basis for the judgement of PT treatment for pain. Recently, the study of pain is no longer the study of pain sensation, but for the area of the bio-defensive mechanisms including analgesia, neurogenic inflammation and/or neuroimmunology.
Upon the development and the progress of the study of pain, PT treatment is clearly classified into two categories; “symptom treatment” which is aimed to obtain transient relief of pain through the facilitation of the analgesic system and “cause treatment” which is aimed to improve the cause of the pain. At the present time, PT is involved in both types of treatment, and it has been stressed that the expansion of the “cause treatment” for the cause of the pain should be considered since there is a physiologic analgesic function.
