Physical medicine

Diseases affecting the muscular and skeletal systems may originate in those systems, or they may result from damage to the nervous, cardiac or pulmonary systems; they can also be a consequence of systemic disorders.

The specialist doctor working in this field is called a physiatrist, or a specialist in physical and rehabilitation medicine. A physiatrist is a medical doctor who knows the universal principles of medicine and has undergone further training in examination, diagnostics and treatment. Physical medicine – that is, the specialist physiatrist – sees the patient as a whole, in all their aspects, both physical and psychological, and in their interaction with their environment.

Physical medicine and rehabilitation is the modern queen of medicine, just as athletics is the queen of sports. Physical medicine carries out diagnostic and therapeutic procedures such as electrodiagnostics, musculoskeletal and vascular ultrasound and joint injections; all other diagnostic procedures are also available, from X-ray, computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and skeletal scintigraphy to laboratory methods and diagnostics. Physical and rehabilitation medicine is founded on anatomy, kinesiology and biomechanics, so that it can reduce and eliminate pain and dysfunction using therapeutic exercise, physical and chemical modalities, medicines and natural healing factors.