Rehabilitation Medicine

Rehabilitation Medicine: physicians who are concerned with evaluating, diagnosing, and treating patients with physical disabilities.

As a physiatrist your primary goal will be to achieve maximum restoration of physical, psychological, social, and vocational functioning through rehabilitation and pain management.

Quick Facts

Competitiveness: Low

Length of training: 4 years

Number of residency programs: 79

Number of residents in training: 1,199

Number in U.S. currently Board Certified in specialty: 9,195

First year median compensation: $130,000

Mean number of hours per week in patient care activities: less than 51.6

Residency Information

You will complete 1 year of general clinical training followed by 3 years of physical medicine and rehabilitation training.

With 1 year of additional training you can complete a fellowship in the following subspecialties:

• Hospice and Palliative Medicine- prevent and relieve the suffering of patients experiencing life-limiting illnesses.


• Neuromuscular Medicine- specialized knowledge in the science, clinical evaluation, and management of these disorders.


• Pediatric Rehabilitation Medicine- prevent, diagnose, treat, and manage congenital and childhood-onset physical impairments.


• Spinal Cord Injury Medicine- addresses the prevention, diagnosis, treatment and management of traumatic spinal cord injury and non-traumatic instances of spinal cord dysfunction.


• Sports Medicine- responsible for continuous care related to the enhancement of health and fitness as well as the prevention of injury and illness.

Why Choose

Physicians in physical medicine and rehabilitation enjoy the breadth of the specialty and its orientation towards the patient and not disease.

As a physiatrist you can concentrate on the aspects which you find most appealing and because of the small numbers of physiatrist it is possible to interact with many within the specialty or become a leader in physical medicine and rehabilitation.

Typical Schedule

You will work 8 to 10 hour days in hospital rounds and in out-patient settings. You will see patients of all ages and because this medicine is practiced in a team oriented fashion you will need to supervise other members of the rehabilitation staff, coordinate treatment plans, and monitor implementation of the plan.

In this specialty rarely will you have after-hours calls, but will lead a flexible lifestyle that leaves room for personal time away from medicine if you choose.

If You're Interested

You have to be comfortable working with disable patients and understand sometimes there will be no change in your patient's health.

You will want to be familiar with speech, occupational, and physical therapies which can be learned by spending time in a rehabilitation center.

As other specialties become over supplied you will realize this field has a great need and your contributions will be felt.

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