Physical Medicine


What is Physical Medicine?

Physical Medicine is the employment of physical agents or techniques like heat and electrical currents for the diagnosis and treatment of functional disorders of muscular, skeletal and nervous systems.

What is a Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Specialist?

Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (PMR) is a medical specialty that concentrates mainly on prevention, diagnosis and treatment of muscular, skeletal and nervous system disorders that cause several permanent or temporary functional insufficiencies.

Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Specialist (physiatrist) is the physician who has been educated and trained on practicing PMR. To be certified as a physiatrist, six years of medical education and five years of PMR residency have to be successfully concluded.

In addition to neurological, orthopedic or neurosurgical diagnosis, a PMR evaluation and diagnosis is necessary for the patients suffering from pain, functional insufficiency and incapacity in the activities of daily living. Only as a result of such an evaluation, a well-judged PMR program can be initiated by the physiatrist.

Quality of life is an integral part of good health. As PMR aims at ensuring the optimal function of the patient; it is also defined as the specialty of quality of life. While treating the disorder involving a specific organ or system due to various diseases or trauma, the physiatrist cares for the patient in a holistic approach. The ultimate target is maintaining the patient's life entirely, or in its medical, emotional, social and professional completeness. A physiatrist's scope may vary from treating a patient's multiple traumatic condition to preventing damage caused by sports.

Basic areas of interest for PMR are: cerebral injury, rehabilitation in burns, rehabilitation of the elderly, rehabilitation of children, cardiovascular and respiratory rehabilitation, industrial rehabilitation, manual therapies, osteoporosis, myofacial pain, pain management, rehabilitation in rheumatologic and neurological disorders, stroke management, spinal chord injury, rehabilitation in orthopedics and sports medicine.

The majority of a PMR specialist's patients are patients with arthritis, musculoskeletal system disorders, acute or chronic pain, sports related injuries. In addition, severe musculoskeletal disorders causing late stage functional disabilities are also taken care of by the physiatrist. These conditions may involve a wide range of diseases from congenital movement incapacities to elderly problems of locomotion.

The physiatrist acts as the leader of the interdisciplinary team composed of several professionals working in accordance for the treatment of the patient with physical disorders. This team may include physicians such as neurologist, psychiatrist, orthopedic surgeon, and health professionals like physiotherapist, sports trainer, speech therapist, psychologist and occupational therapist. The target for such a teamwork is best treatment program designed for the patient.