The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of the cold air application for release of inflamation and pain in patient with acute rheumatoid arthritis who had taken medication(NSAIDs, DMARDs, corticosteroids). The participants had knee joint pain and ESR score over the 30. They were randomly assigned to three groups with each 15. Control group(group I ) were applied cold air and medication, experimental group II were applied hot pack and medication. and experimental group III were applied only medication. They were evaluated from April 1, 2000 to september 1,2000 ,and it was examined by ESR and VAS(visual analoge scale) in Lee Bang Hoon rehabilitation medicine clinic in Jeju Korea. The result of this study were as follow: 1. It was found that group 1, group II and group III had the statistically significant reduction of the ESR score according to treatment time(p<.05). 2. There were not statistically significant differences in ESR change pattern of each group according to treatment time(p>.05). 3. There were not statistically significant differences in the change of ESR according to treatment time between group I and group II , group I and group III , and group II and group III (p<.05). 4. It was found that group I . group II and group III had the statistically significant reduction of the VAS(Visual Analoge Scale) score according to treatment time(p<.05). 5. There were statistically significant differences in VAS score according to treatment time between control group(group I ) and experimental groups(group II and group III)(p<.05), but there were not stsiistically significant differences between experimental groups(p>.05).