A physiatrist is a specialized doctor. Becoming a physiatrist requires five years of medical school followed by another five years in the specialty. Physiatrists specialize in diagnosing, treating and rehabilitating musculoskeletal disorders.
A specialized consultation with a physiatrist includes a questionnaire, a detailed physical examination, and a review of paraclinical exams. These are essential for obtaining a precise diagnosis because there is not always a clear correlation between the clinical presentation and the imaging results (X-rays, CT scan, MRI).
The physiatrist’s treatment methods are based on manual intervention, physical agents, pharmacological agents and various types of injection.
For more than 20 years, fluoroscopy and ultrasound-guided injections have contributed to making more precise diagnoses, improving therapeutic outcomes and reducing the number of surgeries. Physiatry focuses largely on the functional impact of pathological conditions and rehabilitation, relying often on physiotherapy and occupational therapy.
The main disorders treated in physiatry are back and neck pain of various origins, certain types of headache, as well as joint, tendon, ligament, muscle, nerve, and bursal problems. In hospitals, physiatrists take care of all musculoskeletal disorders and of acute rehabilitation, including for hemiplegia, paraplegia, amputation, multiple traumas, polyarthritis and others.
