TY - CHAP M1 - Book, Section TI - Introduction A1 - Jobst, Erin E. A1 - Panus, Peter C. A1 - Kruidering-Hall, Marieke PY - 2020 T2 - Pharmacology for the Physical Therapist, 2e AB - Pharmacology is 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 usually be referred to as drugs. Medical pharmacology, or pharmacotherapeutics, is the use of drugs to achieve a beneficial therapeutic effect on some process within the patient or to promote toxic effects on the regulatory processes in organisms that are infecting the patient. Pharmacotherapeutics may be further subdivided into pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics. Pharmacodynamics (Chapter 2) evaluates the effect of the substance on biologic processes—or, the “effect of the drug on the body.” Pharmacokinetics (Chapter 3) examines the absorption, distribution, and elimination of substances—or, the “effect of the body on the drug.” Toxicology is the branch of pharmacology that deals with the undesirable effects of chemicals on individual cells and humans (medical toxicology) all the way up to their negative effects on complex ecosystems (environmental toxicology). SN - PB - McGraw-Hill Education CY - New York, NY Y2 - 2024/03/29 UR - accessphysiotherapy.mhmedical.com/content.aspx?aid=1192812730 ER -