What Do Physical Medicine Doctors Treat?

Physical Medicine Doctors offer an aggressive, non-surgical approach to pain and injury, and treat a wide variety of diseases and conditions. Here is a listing of just some of the conditions that they have extensive training in diagnosing and/or treating:

The Physical Medicine
and Rehabilitation Specialty

The Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation (PM&R) doctor’s primary goal for the patient is attainment of maximum functioning, not only medically, but psychologically, vocationally, and socially as well.

Their diagnostic tools include those used by other physicians --medical histories and physical examinations, X-rays and laboratory studies. However, PM&R doctors also use special techniques like electromyography and nerve conduction studies.

Like all physicians, PM&R doctors are skilled in the administration of traditional drug therapies. In addition, they prescribe treatment modalities such as heat, cold, electrotherapies, massage, biofeedback, traction, and therapeutic exercise.

The diversity of the profession is reflected in the wide variety of roles a PM&R doctor plays and the broad range of patients he treats. PM&R doctors deal with the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of acute and chronic pain and musculoskeletal disorders, such as arthritis, tendonitis, low back pain, or sports or work-related injuries.

The PM&R doctor also encompasses the treatment of patients with severe congenital or acquired pathology of the musculoskeletal systems resulting in functional limitations. Examples of these disorders include spinal cord injuries, cerebral vascular accidents, amputations, traumatic brain injuries, cancer, multiple sclerosis and spina bifida.

When treating patients with severe physical problems, the PM&R doctor serves as the leader of an interdisciplinary team. The team may include medical professionals such as neurologists, psychiatrists, orthopaedic surgeons, and urologists, and non-physician health professionals such as physical therapists, occupational therapists, speech pathologists, vocational counselors, psychologists and social workers. The team is different for each patient, and the teams composition changes during treatment to match the patients shifting needs.