皮膚は脳の外側にある

Skin is the Outside of the Brain

はじめに

　理学療法士は人に触れる職業ですが，疼痛を有する人を助ける目的として人に触れる徒手の治療スキルを習得してきました．それは，身体構造への直接的影響や永続的影響に至るわけではありません．私たちが他の人と身体接触をするとき，何かが神経系で生じます．この論文は，情報に基づいた接触によって，疼痛軽減や動きの改善のための身体的接触をどのように起こせばよいのか，また理学療法士が幻想を払拭したり，職業として革新的な道を見つけるのに役立つかについて論じます．

Introduction

　As physiotherapists, we are therapists who have a license to touch people. The emphasis should always be on “therapist,” not “physical”：however, many of us are moved to acquire manual therapy skills to touch people with the intent to help them with pain problems that interfere with their movement. The weight of evidence is against the idea that we can directly affect structure within the body, or have any lasting effect on any physical tissue using hands-on methods, even though it has been so tempting and convenient to pretend that we can. Something does happen, however, when we make physically therapeutic contact with another human being, and it happens within his or her own nervous system. The objective of this paper is to discuss how physical contact intended to ameliorate pain and improve movement might happen through informed touch, which in turn may help physiotherapists dispel fantasy and find innovative paths forward for the profession.