One of my best friends is an ortho resident and he constantly jokes that "those Plenty of Money & Relaxation folks" are constantly pushing the boundaries and "encroaching on ortho territory." Despite his thinly-veiled bitterness, his point is valid--while PM&R docs are not by any stretch of the imagination orthopod-wannabes, they fulfill a niche that is much needed, and has always been needed, but hasn't necessarily been widely available and/or publicized. That is changing fairly quickly, especially as procedures become less and less invasive. I think that, in the more distant future, full-blown surgeries will become obsolete, and we'll be treating neuro/ortho/rehab patient populations with combinations of minimally-invasive procedures, stem cells, and multimodal rehab therapies. While we might not be there just yet, but we are increasingly approaching that territory, and physiatrists are uniquely positioned to address this scope of practice. Patients are receptive, too--who would choose to go under the knife when a less invasive therapy will suffice? I am hopeful.
What sort of insurance reimbursements we get, though...that's a whole other can of worms. One I'd rather not think about.
