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Physical medicine and rehabilitation (PM&R) or physiatry, is a branch of medicine dealing with functional restoration of a person affected by physical disability. The focus of the Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation specialty is to improve function for patients with all levels of impairment by treating a wide variety of disorders including traumatic brain injury, stroke, spinal cord injury, amputees, and musculoskeletal disorders.
A physician who has completed training in this field is referred to as a physiatrist. In order to be a physiatrist in the United States, one must complete four years of medical school, one year of internship and three years of residency. The major concern of the field is the ability of the person to function optimally within the limitations placed upon them by a disease process for which there is no known cure. The general emphasis is not on the full restoration to the premorbid level of function, but rather the optimization of the quality of life for those who may not be able to achieve full restoration.
Physical medicine and rehabilitation involves the management of disorders that alter the function and performance of the patient. Emphasis is placed on the optimization of function through the combined use of medications, physical modalities, and experiential training approaches. Electrodiagnostics are used to diagnose and provide prognosis for various neuromuscular disorders. Common conditions that are treated by physiatrists include amputation, spinal cord injury, sports injury, stroke, musculoskletal pain syndromes such as low back pain, fibromyalgia and traumatic brain injury. Cardiopulmonary rehabilitation involves optimizing function in those afflicted with heart or lung disease. Chronic pain management is achieved through multidisciplinary approach involving psychologists, physical therapists, occupational therapists, and interventional procedures when indicated.
There are six formal sub-specializations are recognized by the field: pediatric rehabilitation, spinal cord injury medicine, neuromuscular medicine, sports medicine, and hospice and palliative medicine. Many in the field also subspecialize in areas of amputee care, musculoskeletal medicine, electrodiagnostics, traumatic brain injury (TBI), cardiopulmonary rehabilitation, and neuromuscular disorders.
Medical Opinions Associates has Board-certified medical experts in all specialties, including Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. Some specialists in this field concentrate on Pain Management and General Rehabilitation. One of our PM&R experts does this in connection with his role as Medical Director of a Florida Rehabilitation Hospital’s Pain Management Program. Another, who did his undergraduate work at Harvard University and received his Medical Degree from the University of Chicago, serves as Medical Director, University Rehabilitation Center, and is an Associate Professor of Orthopedics and Rehabilitation at a Pennsylvania Medical Center. He also served as an Attending Physician and Medical Director for Neurological Rehabilitation at a large rehabilitation hospital. We also have the services of a PM&R medical expert who is currently in private practice in Texas, but has served as Associate Medical Director of a freestanding rehab inpatient facility in Texas and has been a Medical Director of an inpatient rehab unit of a large hospital.
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