KHT(Koryo Hand Therapy) : A System for Relieving Pain by Regulating Cerebral Blood Flow in the Brain Tae Woo

Yoo Ph.D., O.M.D. Founder of Koryo Hand Therapy Seoul, Korea October 10, 1999

I. Introduction One of the greatest challenges and difficulties in being human is the inevitable experience of pain and suffering. Everyone hopes to avoid it, but almost nobody escapes. The effort to eliminate pain has been one of man's continuing quests. During the evolution of civilizations and cultures, many methods of pain abatement have been tested. Before discussing this, let us look at the definition of pain. We all experience pain, but scientifically what is it? Most of us think of pain as an unpleasant sensation that originates in traumatized tissues and warns of injury, but pain also has emotional qualities as well. There are many definitions for pain, among them the International Association for the Study of Pain defines pain as follows : "An unpleasant sensory and emotional experience normally associated with tissue damage or described in terms of such damage." With the advance of civilization, many people have tried to perform pain relieving procedures to the patient suffering from pain. In the western countries, many different modalities and treatments, such as medication, injections or nerve blocks, physical therapy and psychotherapy, biofeedback, acupuncture, and even implanted devices have been tried. The usual therapeutic principles include the following : remove the origin of the noxious signal ; block the signal transmission from the peripheral tissues with opioids or other drugs to prevent such transmission ; inject temporary nerve blocks, or introduce destructive lesions within the nervous system to prevent nerve transmission. Our level of understanding of pain is clearly incomplete. Pain is often managed inadequately, despite the ready availability of safe and effective treatments. To manage pain, we should try to develop new, safe, and more effective methods without side effects, morbidity and mortality. In the Orient, pain has been controlled by such methods as bloodletting therapy, herbal medication, needling therapy, and pressure therapy. Oriental medicine has many advantages, but it has limits in treating severe, malignant and intractable diseases. In several countries physicians understand the limitation of both medical fields, especially in the west. We see the rise of interest in "Complimentary and Alternative Medicine" and in multidisciplinary pain centers. We know much about the mechanism of pain, but there is much to be learned. The sensory system relays information from both the external and the internal environment to the brain. Pain receptors are distributed in skin and mucous membrances and in the musculosckeletal systems. Tissue damage stimulates the release of endogenous pain provoking chemicals such as amines, polypeptides and alkaloids. Acetylcholine Histamine Amine Serotonin Adrenalin Noradrenalin Angiotensin Oxytocin