Team Focus: Physiatrist

Multiple sclerosis (MS), through a combination of impairments resulting from demyelination and axonal damage, often causes significant functional limitations and has a profound negative impact on the patient's quality of life. The variability and unpredictability of the disease course and clinical presentations, combined with the patient's personal characteristics and history as well as environmental factors (human, physical, and psychosocial), contribute to the complexity of managing the consequences of the disease. Supported by a growing body of evidence, rehabilitation services are increasingly being integrated into the comprehensive care of people with MS. The main role of the physiatrist is to coordinate medical treatments (other than disease-modifying therapies) and interventions by a variety of rehabilitation professionals in order to establish and achieve realistic functional goals.