Overview of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (PMandR)
PMandR is a medical specialty that works to restore function for a person who has been disabled due to a disease, disorder, or injury.
What is physical medicine and rehabilitation?
Physical medicine and rehabilitation (PM&R) is also called physiatry. It's a medical area that helps a person function when they are disabled due to a health problem or injury.
Rehab helps the whole person. It looks at physical, emotional, health, work, and social needs. A rehab doctor is called a physiatrist.
What is rehabilitation?
Rehabilitation (rehab) helps a person reach the best level of function, independence, and quality of life possible. Rehab does not reverse the damage caused by disease or injury. But it helps a person be at their best in function and well-being.
The rehabilitation program
Rehab medicine is designed to meet each person's needs. So each program is different. In general, rehab programs:
- Treat the disease and prevent complications.
- Treat the disability and improve function.
- Provide adaptive tools and change the environment.
- Help the person and their family adapt to lifestyle changes.
The success of rehab depends on many things, including:
- The type of health problem or injury and how severe it is.
- The type and degree of disability.
- The person's overall health.
- Family support.
Areas covered in rehab programs may include:
Patient need | Example |
|---|---|
Self-care skills, including activities of daily living (ADLs) | Feeding, grooming, bathing, dressing, toileting, and sexual function |
Physical care | Nutritional needs, medicine, and skin care |
Mobility skills | Walking, transfers, and self-propelling a wheelchair |
Respiratory care | Ventilator care, if needed; breathing treatments and exercises to help lung function |
Communication skills | Speech, writing, and other ways to communicate |
Cognitive skills | Memory, focus, judgment, problem-solving, and organizational skills |
Socialization skills | Interacting with others at home and in the community |
Vocational training | Work-related skills |
Pain management | Medicine and other ways to manage pain |
Psychological counseling | Noting problems and finding solutions for thinking, behavioral, and emotional issues |
Family support | Help with adapting to lifestyle changes, money concerns, and discharge planning |
Education | Patient and family education and training about the condition, medical care, and ways to adapt |
Understanding rehabilitation terminology
Rehab is needed when a disease and injury cause an impairment:
- An impairment is a loss of normal function of part of the body, such as paralysis of a leg.
- Disability occurs when a person can't do an activity in a normal way due to an impairment, such as not being able to walk.
- A handicap occurs when there are limits that prevent a person with a disability from doing their normal roles, such as not being able to work. A handicap refers to a barrier that may be imposed by society, the environment, or the person's own attitude.
Most people with disabilities are not considered handicapped. They go to school, work, perform family duties, and interact with society fully and capably.