Rehabilitation Medicine is a very fulfilling medical specialty that focuses on improving function and quality of life in everyone, no matter what their medical condition is! It’s the clinical medical specialty that is primarily focused on assessing and treating people who have reduced functional ability due to illness, disease or injury.

Rehabilitation medicine physicians (aka physiatrists) are specialist doctors who utilise the holistic biopsychosocial model of Engel which encompasses all of the biomedical, psychological and social aspects of health and life.

Extensive research has demonstrated that rehabilitation programs can improve function and quality of life for people with varied medical conditions that can be life-changing. Thes include persistent pain, deconditioning, heart disease, lung disease, stroke, Parkinson’s Disease, traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury, amputations, arthritis, long covid, cancer, chronic fatigue syndrome, following joint replacement and in recovery from fractures.

Rehabilitation medicine is also focussed on prevention, preventing and reversing the ill effects of hospitalisation and preventing further illness or disease once someone is affected by a sometimes life changing condition listed above.

As you can see, it is a pretty important specialty.