What types of activities are involved with rehabilitation medicine? | NICHD

Rehabilitation medicine uses many kinds of assistance, therapies, and devices to improve function. The type of rehabilitation a person receives depends on the condition causing impairment, the bodily function that is affected, and the severity of the impairment.

The following are some common types of rehabilitation:^{1, 2, 3, 4, 5}

• Cognitive rehabilitation therapy involves relearning or improving skills, such as thinking, learning, memory, planning, and decision making that may have been lost or affected by brain injury.
• Occupational therapy helps a person carry out daily life tasks and activities in the home, workplace, and community.
• Pharmacorehabilitation involves the use of drugs to improve or restore physical or mental function.
• Physical therapy involves activities and exercises to improve the body’s movements, sensations, strength, and balance.
• Rehabilitative/assistive technology refers to tools, equipment, and products that help people with disabilities move and function. This technology includes (but is not limited to):
  • Orthotics, which are devices that aim to improve movement and prevent contracture in the upper and lower limbs. For instance, pads inserted into a shoe, specially fitted shoes, or ankle or leg braces can improve a person’s ability to walk. Hand splints and arm braces can help the upper limbs remain supple and unclenched after a spinal cord injury.
  • Prosthetics, which are devices designed to replace a missing body part, such as an artificial limb
  • Wheelchairs, walkers, crutches, and other mobility aids
  • Augmentative/Alternative Communication (AAC) devices, which aim to either make a person’s communication more understandable or take the place of a communication method. They can include electronic devices, speech-generating devices, and picture boards.
  • Hearing aids and cochlear implants
  • Retinal prostheses, which can restore useful vision in cases in which it has been lost due to certain degenerative eye conditions
  • Telemedicine and telerehab technologies, which are devices or software to deliver care or monitor conditions in the home or community
  • Rehabilitation robotics
  • Mobile apps to assist with speech/communication, anxiety/stress, memory, and other functions or symptoms⁶
• Recreational therapy helps improve symptoms and social and emotional well-being through arts and crafts, games, relaxation training, and animal-assisted therapy.
• Speech and language therapy aims to improve impaired swallowing and movement of the mouth and tongue, as well as difficulties with the voice, language, and talking.
• Surgery includes procedures to correct a misaligned limb or to release a constricted muscle, skin grafts for burns, insertion of chips into the brain to assist with limb or prosthetic movement, and placement of skull plates or bone pins.
• Vocational rehabilitation aids in building skills for going to school or working at a job.
• Music or art therapy can specifically aid in helping people express emotion, in cognitive development, or in helping to develop social connectedness.⁷

These services are provided by a number of different healthcare providers and specialists, including (but not limited to):

• Physiatrists (also called rehabilitation physicians)
• Occupational therapists
• Physical therapists
• Cognitive rehabilitation therapists
• Gait and clinical movement specialist
• Rehabilitation technologists
• Speech therapists
• Audiologists
• Orthopedists/surgeons
• Neurologists
• Psychiatrists/psychologists
• Biomedical engineers
• Rehabilitation engineers