REHABILITATION-MEDICINE

The nature of rehabilitation medicine is outlined in terms of its obje ctives, its methods, the patient groups which it seeks to help and its relationships to other specialties. Some major advances of recent yea rs are discussed, such as the development of the impairment/disability /handicap framework. With particular emphasis upon neurological rehabi litation, the breadth of the specialty is then illustrated with exampl es of current preoccupations. These include recovery patterns of the d amaged nervous system, testing the efficacy of existing therapies, app lying new treatment techniques and developing quantitative measures of disability and handicap. Looking to the future, some key areas are id entified where further advances might be sought.