Rehabilitation Medicine
What is Rehabilitation Medicine?
Short answer – it is the medical specialty that deals with overall function: helping you get up and moving after an illness, maximizing your independence and enhancing your quality of life. Rehabilitation can help people who have conditions affecting mobility: stroke, brain injury, spinal cord injury, neurologic disease, amputation, fractures, burns, pain and many more.
I have a blog entry to answer the question in more detail. There’s also another blog entry about my journey to choosing Rehabilitation Medicine as a specialty.
You can also read about it on the website of the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation.
Organizations for Rehabilitation Medicine
- American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (AAPMR)
- Association of Academic Physiatrists (AAP)
- American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine (ACRM) – unique, because it is interdisciplinary and not exclusive to Rehabilitation Medicine physicians (Physiatrists)
- International Society of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine (ISPRM)
- Philippine Academy of Rehabilitation Medicine (PARM)
Useful Medical Educational Websites
- AAPMR KnowledgeNow – from their website: it is a “resource for physicians and patients providing an overview of conditions and treatments in the specialty of physical medicine and rehabilitation (PM&R)”. I’ve co-authored more than a few with colleagues.
- PM&R Scholars – from their website, “We are a scholastic group of like-minded scholars focused on collaboration, mentorship, research and networking opportunities in Physiatry. Our ultimate goal is goal to provide a networking platform to facilitate professional, and academic development opportunities for students, residents and early career physiatrists.”. They have virtual residency fairs, as well as interviews as with physiatrists about their practice and conditions they treat. You can also find them on Twitter, Instagram and YouTube. Also accessible here.
- PhysiatryNow – appears to be a PM&R Scholars affiliate site, it has links to interviews and videos about physiatrists and conditions we treat.
- The Virtual Physiatry Mentors – Dr. Sheena Bhuva and Dr. Benecia Williams rotated with me in Texas during their residency, and I’m proud of them for building up this nice chunk of mentorship content for students, residents and anyone who wants to learn more about a career in physiatry. Check out their Facebook, Instagram and Youtube links. You can also find their podcasts on iTunes and Spotify.
- FOAMPMR – Free Open Access Medical Education for PM&R, with multiple links to the essential medical literature for physiatrists, educational videos, study aids and podcasts. Many, many educational links. Find them also on Twitter.
- Orthobullets – good resource for musculoskeletal system education. They have online cases and podcasts useful for the physiatrist.
- Radiopaedia – resource for learning about imaging
