Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (PM&R) physicians, also known as physiatrists, treat a wide variety of medical conditions affecting the brain, spinal cord, nerves, bones, joints, ligaments, muscles, and tendons. Physiatrists maximize what a patient can do and assist the patient in adapting to what he or she cannot. A physiatrist should be consulted when pain, weakness, or disability is preventing a patient from achieving their desired level of independence.

Physiatrists specialize in non-surgical physical medicine and rehabilitation (PM&R) for patients who have been disabled as a result of a disease, condition, disorder, or injury. They diagnose, perform thorough patient histories, treat injuries and conditions, and direct your expanded treatment team using non-surgical methods. Physiatrists focus on a personalized method of treatment to improve their patients' quality of life -- one that involves a comprehensive approach to expand the framework of resources at a patient's disposal. As a result, a patient's recuperation involves every aspect of their lives.

The goal of the physiatrist is to provide medical care to patients with pain, weakness, numbness, flaccidity, spasticity and loss of function so that they can maximize their physical, biological, psychological, social, and vocational potential. Physiatrists direct a comprehensive rehabilitation team of professionals that may include physical therapists, occupational therapists, recreational therapists, rehabilitation nurses, psychologists, social workers, and others. Although physiatrists have been practicing PM&R for over seventy years, their abilities became widely known and utilized during the years of World War II, when many soldiers returned from the war with serious musculoskeletal disabilities.

What Physiatrist Does

         Treat patients of all ages

         Focus treatment on function

         Have a broad medical expertise that allows them to treat disabling conditions throughout a person’s lifetime

         Diagnose and treat pain as a result of an injury, illness, or disabling condition

         Determine and lead a treatment/prevention plan

         Lead a team of medical professionals, which may include physical therapists, occupational

         Therapists, and physician extenders to optimize patient care

         Work with other physicians, which may include primary care physicians, neurologists, orthopedic surgeons, and many others

         Treat the whole person, not just the problem area

Depending on the injury, illness, or disabling condition, some PM&R physicians may treat their patients using the following procedures/services:

         EMG/Nerve Conduction Studies

         Ultrasound guided procedures

         Fluoroscopy guided procedures

         Injections of spine

         Discography, Disc Decompression and Vertebroplasy/Kyphoplasty

         Nerve Stimulators, Blocks and Ablation procedures—Peripheral and Spinal

         Injections of joints

         Prolotherapy

         Spasticity Treatment (Phenol and Botulinum toxin injections, intrathecal baclofen pump trial and implants)

         Nerve and Muscle Biopsy

         Manual Medicine/Osteopathic Treatment

         Prosthetics and Orthotics

         Complementary - alternative medicine (i.e. acupuncture, etc.)

         Disability/impairment assessment

         Medico legal consulting

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