It is important to consider the effect of physical the rapeutic modalities on the autonomic nervous system(ANS) because pain pathway and the ANS pathway are interrelated each other. There are controversies between researchers about the effect of transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation(TENS) on the ANS and not much is known about the effect of interference current therapy(ICT) on the ANS. Our purpose is to evaluate the effect of TENS and ICT on the ANS with skin temperature and sympathetic skin response(SSR).

We applied high frequency(100Hz) TENS, low frequency(10Hz) TENS, and ICT(1000Hz) for 20 minutes on right forearm area of 25 normal young men. Skin temperature was measured before the treatment and at 5 minutes' interval. SSR was measured before and after the treatment.

Both the high and low frequency TENS showed no change in skin temperature and SSR. ICT showed delayed latency and decreased amplitude in SSR and there was slight amount of decrease in skin temperature, which was statistically nonsignificant. The changes in SSR after ICT disappeared after the cessation of the treatment.

In conclusion, 1) TENS has no effect on ANS. 2) ICT causes changes in SSR but the effect disappears after the cessation of treatment.