Preface

It is a great privilege to have developed this issue of the Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Clinics of North America dedicated to upholding Abraham Lincoln ’s declaration during his second Inaugural Address, “To care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow, and his orphan,” by focusing on the specialized rehabilitation needs of Polytrauma Rehabilitation in the Military and Veteran Populations. Polytrauma, defined as “two or mo re injuries, one of which may be life threatening, sustained in the same incident that affect multiple body parts or organ systems and result in physical, cognitive, psychological, or psychosocial impairments and functional disabilities,” occurred in nearly 500,000 American service members during the Afghanistan and Iraqi Wars, and these complex injuries spurred yet another surge in the field of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (PM&R) ranging from the “signature injury” of traumatic brain injury, to the life-changing major physical injuries of burns, amputation, spinal cord injury, to the challenging physical and psychosocial insults of posttraumatic stress disorder, depression, and chronic pain.
Source: Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Clinics of North America - Category: Rehabilitation Authors: Source Type: research