ABSTRACT
Prevention is important in prevention of the trauma, and even more important in prevention of the more severe stages of the disease. As a preventive and therapeutic modality physiotherapy plays even a more important role in Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy (RSD) than in Parkinson's disease. Thermography exclusively specifies dysfunction in the thermatome of the sympathetic nerves and is of limited use in diagnosing which level of the cervicolumbar spinal canal is the disc herniation causing the patient's problems. The autonomic nerve dysfunction is best studied by thermography and the motor peripheral nervous dysfunction is best studied by electromyography. Aggressive physiotherapy and application of nerve blocks are essential in the prevention of the deterioration of RSD. Functionally, the brain stem as a part of the limbic system, through its extensive electrochemical modulatory effect on the central and peripheral nervous system, it is responsible for diurnal functions of the body.
