Healthcare Practitioners
Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Physicians
Also called: Acute Rehabilitation Unit Physiatrist, Attending Physician, EDX Medicine MD (Electrodiagnostic Medicine Medical Doctor), MD (Medical Doctor)
US median pay
$265,930
per year, 2025
Job growth 2025–35
+3.4%
about average or slower
Openings a year (US)
9,400
367,400 employed
Typical entry education
Doctoral or professional degree
Preparation 5/5 · Extensive preparation
What this job is
Diagnose and treat disorders requiring physiotherapy to provide physical, mental, and occupational rehabilitation.
What they do day to day
- Document examination results, treatment plans, and patients' outcomes.
- Examine patients to assess mobility, strength, communication, or cognition.
- Develop comprehensive plans for immediate and long-term rehabilitation, including therapeutic exercise, speech and occupational therapy, counseling, cognitive retraining, patient, family or caregiver education, or community reintegration.
- Assess characteristics of patients' pain, such as intensity, location, or duration, using standardized clinical measures.
- Monitor effectiveness of pain management interventions, such as medication or spinal injections.
- Provide inpatient or outpatient medical management of neuromuscular disorders, musculoskeletal trauma, acute and chronic pain, deformity or amputation, cardiac or pulmonary disease, or other disabling conditions.
- Consult or coordinate with other rehabilitative professionals, including physical and occupational therapists, rehabilitation nurses, speech pathologists, neuropsychologists, behavioral psychologists, social workers, or medical technicians.
- Prescribe orthotic and prosthetic applications and adaptive equipment, such as wheelchairs, bracing, or communication devices, to maximize patient function and self-sufficiency.
- Diagnose or treat performance-related conditions, such as sports injuries or repetitive-motion injuries.
- Perform electrodiagnosis, including electromyography, nerve conduction studies, or somatosensory evoked potentials of neuromuscular disorders or damage.
Skills and knowledge that matter most
Skills
- Social Perceptiveness4.0/5
- Judgment and Decision Making4.0/5
- Complex Problem Solving4.0/5
- Coordination3.9/5
- Time Management3.8/5
- Service Orientation3.8/5
- Instructing3.8/5
- Systems Evaluation3.4/5
Knowledge
- Medicine and Dentistry4.9/5
- English Language4.1/5
- Psychology4.0/5
- Biology3.9/5
- Therapy and Counseling3.8/5
- Education and Training3.5/5
Importance rated by people working in the job (1 = not important, 5 = extremely important).
Education and preparation
Preparation level 5 of 5 — Extensive preparation. Usually a graduate degree (master's, PhD, MD, JD) and extensive experience.
Typical entry education (BLS): Doctoral or professional degree.
Highest education of people in this job:
- Doctoral degree55%
- Post-doctoral training43%
Who this job suits
Mostly Investigative
Ideas, research and solving problems
Social
Helping, teaching and caring for people
Realistic
Hands-on work with tools, machines, plants or animals
Based on the Holland (RIASEC) interest profile for this occupation.