Media Contact: Joanne Constantine
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November 2006

Who May Qualify as Medicine's Best-Kept Secret?

It’s the Multi-Skilled Rehabilitation Physician

CHICAGO – They represent one of medicine’s best-kept secrets and yet have the training, skills and knowledge to help a vast majority of Americans, according to recent national research.

What is this valuable medical specialty people essentially do not recognize? It’s the one practiced by rehabilitation physicians – nerve, muscle and bone experts who treat injuries or illnesses that affect how you move. Their goal? Decrease pain and restore function without surgery.

In medical circles, these doctors also are known as “physiatrists,” a term that’s difficult to pronounce and often is confused with other specialties, which may explain why a survey 1,000 of Americans revealed a mere 1 percent know the word.

Once the specialty is defined for them, though, many realize they are candidates for treatment by a rehabilitation physician if they suffer from many kinds of illnesses, a sports or on-the-job injury, or chronic pain. The survey, commissioned by the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (AAPM&R), showed nearly 67 percent of American adults said they could benefit from medical care provided by these physicians

“One explanation for this lack of awareness is due to the fact that the more than 8,000 rehabilitation physicians in this country serve such a wide spectrum of conditions and patients. This makes it difficult for us to ‘own’ any one treatment area,” said Joel Press, MD, president of AAPM&R. “At the same time, this broad medical expertise underscores the significant roles we can play in helping treat disabling conditions throughout a person’s lifetime.”

These disabilities may be due to low back, shoulder and neck pain, tendonitis, arthritis, osteoporosis, sports injuries, or involve more complex conditions such as spinal cord injuries, stroke and cardiac rehabilitation and traumatic brain injuries.

“Rehabilitation physicians take the time needed to accurately pinpoint the source of an ailment and then design treatments that can be done by the patients themselves or with our medical teams,” explained NAME. “What’s so important is to recognize that with our focus on non-surgical approaches we can avoid less extreme interventions and costly procedures. This is accomplished by taking the ‘whole patient’ into account, not just a specific symptom.”

For example, low back pain can be triggered by a variety of causes. Often, it is difficult to identify the source in a routine examination. A rehabilitation physician will address issues such as prior illness or injury, the patient’s work environment, and lifestyle, and determine a treatment that extends to the overall functioning of the patient.

Or, when treating a stroke victim, a rehab physician will evaluate both the negative effects of the stroke as well as the patient’s pre-attack status, factoring in the individual’s physical abilities, emotional state, family support, education and even spiritual resources. After this analysis, a comprehensive recovery program is developed involving, as appropriate, physical and speech therapists, neurologists, psychologists and social workers.

Rehab physicians attain such scope of expertise through four years of medical school plus an additional four years of hospital-based residency training as specialists in physical medicine and rehabilitation. Some physicians pursue additional advanced degrees in sub specialties, such as musculoskeletal rehabilitation and spinal cord injury.

“Our extensive education and training enable us to help patients stay as active as possible at any age,” NAME added.

To locate a rehabilitation physician in your community, or to learn more about the specialty, visit the AAPM&R Web site at www.aapmr.org.

Based in Chicago, AAPM&R is the national medical society representing more than 7,500 physicians who are specialists in the field of physical medicine and rehabilitation.

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