RT Book, Section
A1 Panus, Peter C.
A1 Jobst, Erin E.
A1 Masters, Susan B.
A1 Katzung, Bertram
A1 Tinsley, Suzanne L.
A1 Trevor, Anthony J.
SR Print(0)
ID 6090001
T1 Chapter 1. Introduction
T2 Pharmacology for the Physical Therapist
YR 2009
FD 2009
PB The McGraw-Hill Companies
PP New York, NY
SN 978-0-07-146043-9
LK accessphysiotherapy.mhmedical.com/content.aspx?aid=6090001
RD 2024/04/19
AB Pharmacology  may  be  defined  as  the  study  of  substances  that  interact  with  living  systems  through  chemical  processes,  especially  by  binding  to  regulatory  molecules  and  activating  or  inhibiting  normal  body  processes.  In  this  book,  these  substances  will  be  referred  to  as  drugs.  Drugs  are  administered  to  achieve  a  beneficial  therapeutic  effect  on  some  process  within  the  patient  or  for  their  toxic  effects  on  regulatory  processes  in  organisms  infecting  the  patient.  Such  deliberate  therapeutic  applications  may  be  considered  the  proper  role  of  pharmacotherapeutics,  which  is  often  defined  as  medical  pharmacology  (i.e.,  drugs  used  to  prevent,  diagnose,  and  treat  diseases).  Pharmacotherapeutics  may  be  further  subdivided  into  pharmacodynamics  and  pharmacokinetics.  Pharmacodynamics  evaluates  the  effect  of  the  substance  on  biologic  processes,  and  will  be  discussed  in  Chapter  2.  Pharmacokinetics  examines  the  absorption,  distribution,  and  elimination  of  substances,  and  will  be  discussed  in  Chapter  3.  Toxicology  is  the  branch  of  pharmacology  that  deals  with  the  undesirable  effects  of  chemicals  on  living  systems,  from  individual  cells  to  complex  ecosystems.