Pharmacology and Physical Therapy

Jules M Rothstein
PHYS THER. 1995; 75:341.

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Editor's Note

Pharmacology
and
Physical
Therapy

Optimum health care requires practitioners to mobilize and understand all available and reasonable resources on behalf of patients. For any health care practitioner to evaluate results of interventions, one must understand not just the
interventions he or she provides, but also those being offered by other members
of the health care team. Clearly, the time when any member of the health care
team can function in isolation is over. In that spirit, we offer this special issue on
pharmacology and the articles on the same subject that will appear next month.
This special series is not meant to serve as an all inclusive text on the subject of
pharmacology but rather as a place where therapists may learn about recent
developments in areas that are most likely to affect practice. Special emphasis
has been placed on medication effects that therapists should watch, and in some
cases authors note how medications can influence responses to exercise. There
are also reviews of topical agents therapists may apply and modes of medication
delivery that may involve therapists. In addition, we offer insight into a setting
(the US Army) where therapists are actively involved in the use of pharmacological treatments.
The articles in this series are contributed by a variety of authors and provide a
wealth of information. The efforts of the authors are clear, as are the extraordinary efforts put into this series by Associate Editor Dr Charles Ciccone. We are
grateful to all who made this special series possible, including the reviewers.
The information in this series of articles illustrates why therapists, like other
health care practitioners, must have a basic understanding of the methods used
by their colleagues. How, for example, can anyone evaluate the care given
patients with low back pain when physical therapy and medications are used
simultaneously, unless there is at least a rudimentary understanding of how each
treatment might affect the patient, and of course how the treatments might interact? How can we exercise patients unless we understand how cardiac function
or metabolism might be influenced by medications they are talung? Often, we
see case reports submitted to this journal that lack adequate detail on the medications patients take. We believe that this not only represents a deficiency in the
report, but also a deficiency in the quality of care if the therapist was not cognizant of medications used and their effects on the patient.
Therapists can no longer afford the luxury of considering their efforts independent of other pmctitioners. We have previously made this point regarding the
psychosocial aspects of patient care, and it is also critically important when it
comes to medications. Pharmacology can no longer remain as mystical as the
brew conjured up by the witches in Macbeth who extolled the virtues of "eye of
newt, and toe of frog, wool of bat and tongue of dog." Toward a better understanding of h s topic we offer this special series.

Jules M Rothsteln, PhD, PT, FAPTA

Editor

Physical Therapy / Volume 75, Number 5 / May 1995

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Pharmacology and Physical Therapy

Jules M Rothstein
PHYS THER. 1995; 75:341.

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