Rehabilitation Medicine

Rehabilitation is vital after serious illnesses, injuries, and surgeries. Ara Chitchyan, MD, and his team at American Rehabilitation Associates in Peachtree City, Georgia, offer comprehensive rehabilitation medicine to help you overcome pain and loss of function. They use advanced treatments such as orthobiologics combined with physical therapy to promote a successful recovery. Call American Rehabilitation Associates to find out more about rehabilitation medicine or book a consultation today using the online scheduling tool.

What is rehabilitation medicine?

Rehabilitation medicine provides comprehensive care for patients with functional limitations and/or chronic pain.

The highly skilled rehabilitation medicine experts at American Rehabilitation Associates design personalized treatment plans for each individual to optimize physical function and lessen pain.

The team uses a holistic (whole-body) approach to relieve pain at its source and improve mobility.

What conditions can rehabilitation medicine treat?

Patients with a wide variety of neuromusculoskeletal conditions can benefit from rehabilitation medicine, including those with:

• Arthritis
• Tendinitis and tendinosis
• Spinal stenosis
• Sciatica
• Fibromyalgia
• Complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS)
• Peripheral neuropathy (nerve damage)
• Postherpetic neuralgia (nerve pain with shingles)
• Catastrophic injuries
• Spinal cord injury (SCI)
• Traumatic brain injury (TBI)
• Movement and balance disorders, including spasticity

Rehabilitation medicine is also invaluable for people recovering from strokes or surgery.

What happens at a rehabilitation medicine evaluation?

A rehabilitation medicine assessment is just like a regular doctor’s appointment. Your American Rehabilitation Associates provider reviews your medical history, discusses your symptoms, and conducts a physical exam.

In many cases, you also need to undergo selected tests and procedures. Examples include:

• X-ray
• Ultrasound
• MRI
• CT scan
• Electromyography (EMG)
• Nerve conduction velocity (NCV) testing
• Blood tests

These procedures help to confirm your diagnosis so you can receive the most beneficial treatment.

What treatments does rehabilitation medicine use?

Many different treatments are available to rehabilitation medicine patients, including:

• Physical therapy
• Laser and ultrasound therapies
• Manipulation treatments
• Orthotics, braces, and splints
• Walking aids
• Pain medications
• Psychological counseling
• Corticosteroid injections
• Hyaluronic acid joint injections
• Radiofrequency ablation
• Orthobiologics like platelet-rich plasma (PRP)

The American Rehabilitation Associates team specializes in using orthobiologics to treat rehabilitation medicine patients.

What role do orthobiologics play in rehabilitation medicine?

Orthobiologics are substances that use naturally occurring cells to treat tissue damage and deterioration. They include platelet-rich plasma (PRP), platelet-poor plasma (PPP), growth factor injections, and mesenchymal stromal cells.

Platelets and growth factors come from your blood, while mesenchymal stromal cells come from adipose (fatty tissue) or bone marrow. The American Rehabilitation Associates team harvests these substances from your body and processes them to produce a concentrated fluid before injecting them into the painful areas.

Orthobiologics work with your body’s natural healing system, where blood arrives at an injury site, delivering oxygen and healing cells to repair the damage. While this system works extremely well most of the time, sometimes your body needs a helping hand to complete a repair properly. Orthobiologic injections may give your body the boost it needs.

Call American Rehabilitation Associates today or schedule a consultation online to benefit from expert rehabilitation medicine.