|
Medical specialists in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (PM&R) focus on people's overall functioning and enhancing their quality of life. PM&R physicians (called physiatrists) have training that emphasizes neurologic, orthopedic, rheumatologic and cardiopulmonary care, since abnormalities in these body systems frequently interfere with day-to-day functioning. Physiatrists focus on restoring function.
Physiatrists care for patients with acute and chronic pain, and musculoskeletal problems like back and neck pain, tendonitis, pinched nerves and fibromyalgia. They also treat people who have experienced catastrophic events resulting in paraplegia, quadriplegia, or traumatic brain injury; and individuals who have had strokes, orthopedic injuries, or neurologic disorders such as multiple sclerosis, polio, or ALS. They may see a person who lifts a heavy object at work and experiences back pain, a basketball player who sprains an ankle and needs rehabilitation to play again, or a computer user with carpal tunnel syndrome. Physiatrists' patients include people with arthritis, tendonitis, any kind of back pain, and work- or sports-related injuries. They might treat a baby with a birth defect, someone in a bad car accident, or an elderly person with a broken hip.
Physiatrists coordinate the long-term rehabilitation process for patients with spinal cord injuries, cancer, stroke or other neurological disorders, brain injuries, amputations, and multiple sclerosis. Physiatrists practice in rehabilitation centers, hospitals, and in private offices. They often have broad practices, but some may concentrate on one area such as pediatrics, sports medicine, geriatric medicine, brain injury, or other special interests.
They offer treatment options including physical modalities such as heat or ice, acupuncture, manual therapies and therapeutic exercise to improve function. The goal is to design a unique program of recovery, health and wellness that fits each person's needs. They work in a team that includes physiatrists, physical therapists, occupational therapists, speech therapists, rehabilitation psychologists, social workers, and nurses.
To become board-certified in physical medicine and rehabilitation, physiatrists are required to pass both a written and oral examination administered by the American Board of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (ABPM&R). The ABPM&R also has agreements with each of the boards of pediatrics, internal medicine, and neurology to allow special training programs leading to certification in both specialties.
Medical Opinions Associates has medical experts in physical medicine/physiatry on its panel of experts. One such expert is also a Fellow of the American Academy of Disability Evaluating Physicians and is Board-certified by the American Academy of Pain Management and the National Board of Medical Examiners. He is the Medical Director of a Rehabilitation Hospital’s Pain Management Program and has been Rehabilitation Director at several nursing and rehabilitation centers. Another expert, a graduate of the University of Chicago Medical School, has served as a staff physician at the National Institutes of Heath in Bethesda, Maryland, and is currently the Medical Director at a university rehabilitation center and Associate Professor of Orthopedics and Rehabilitation at a major Pennsylvania Medical Center. One physiatry expert is in independent practice in Texas and has served as Associate Medical Director in a rehabilitation hospital and Medical Director of the inpatient rehabilitation unit.
|
