Rehabilitation Medicine

In the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, the professional health-care staff provide medical treatment and physical therapy to their patients to help them regain their physical functions and mitigate their physical impairments to improve their QoL and assist their return to society. A rehabilitation team comprises the attending doctor, rehabilitation doctor, physical therapist, occupational therapist, speech-language-hearing therapist, nurse, prosthetist and orthotist, medical social worker, among many other professions. Rehabilitation medicine is applied to every disease and disorder: e.g., cerebrovascular disease, traumatic brain impediment, spinal cord injury, bone and joint diseases, rheumatoid arthritis, amputation, neuromuscular disease, cardiovascular disease, respiratory disease, and cancer, among others. For example, a patient who has hemiplegia due to cerebrovascular disease may receive medical treatment and physical therapy to improve the function of the paretic part of the body. If the patient’s paresis continues, we create assisting orthoses and coordinate with the patients’ caregivers to help reconstruct the patient’s living environment around their issues.