Rehabilitation medicine has first introduced to Korea by American missionaries and the American-Korean Foundation in 1953.
Its history is not so long compared to other fields in medicine, but it became an essential part of medicine to meet the demands of life extension and welfare society. With the medical advances, there are more chances to treat diseases which were considered hard to cure and save life from severe injuries. However it also results in more people with disabilities.
The goal of rehabilitation medicine is to help the disabled live nearly normal lives by having them develop their potentials to improve physical, mental, social abilities and competence in hobby, occupation, and learning under the given conditions.
Based on people-oriented multi-disciplinary approach, surgeons, nurses, physical therapists, occupational therapists, language therapists, and social workers work together to evaluate and determine the treatment direction of each patient.
Rehabilitation medicine continues developing as the public awareness of physically disabled persons and the demands of patients and the disabled for treatment and quality of life increase.
Subjects of rehabilitation therapy
Central nervous system disease: stroke, spinal cord injury, traumatic brain injury, brain tumor
Senile diseases: regenerative musculoskeletal disorders, regenerative nervous system diseases
Pediatric diseases: cerebral palsy, congenital malformation, developmental disorders, children with specific diseases
Patients with cardiac and lung disorders
Subjects of rehabilitation therapy
Therapeutic exercise : training to maximize bodily functions by postural control and normal movements
Pain clinic : treatment to alleviate pain in musculoskeletal system
Gait and balance training : treatment to improve balance control for independent gait and returning to social life
Functional activities : training to improve the functions of upper limbs
Activities of daily living : training on personal activities of daily living such as eating, dressing, toileting, etc.
Dysphagia rehabilitation : improving swallowing function
Cognitive rehabilitation : training on concentration, memory, and performance abilities for functional activities
Speech & Language Therapy
Neurolinguistic language disorders : comprehensive language therapy for improving overall communication ability.
Dysarthria : treatment of imperfect speech by enhancing breathing, vocalization, and articulation ability.
Linguistic cognition : training on meta-cognition abilities related to memory, reasoning, judgment, and communication.
Developmental language disorder : treatment of developmental disorders such as delayed language development,. articulation disorder, stuttering, cleft palate, etc.
Take a look at the treatment of major diseases in your department.
For the last two decades, AMC Breast Cancer Center has shown excellent treatment results of breast cancer with 89.3% of five-year survival rates of patients with all-stage cancers between 1989 and 2008 while 91.9% of five-year survival rates in all patients between 2003 and 2008, which is a 20% improvement of survival rates in 15 years.
The center provides customized treatment to each patient, including all aspects of brain tumor treatment such as skull base surgery, endoscopic operation, neuro-oncology and clinical trials, stereotactic radiosurgery, and neuroendocrinology.
The Scoliosis Center provides treatment of all types of infantile and adolescent scoliosis (idiopathic, congenital, and neuromuscular) as well as other pediatric spinal disorders. Professors and clinical nurse specialists will offer sufficient explanations and counseling to patients and their parents at the consultation rooms or the counseling room.
AMC uses evidence-based practices and offers sports therapy as the first line of treatment in collaboration with the sports health center and the department of rehabilitation medicine. If needed, injection therapy is possible with the department of radiology and the department of anesthesiology and pain medicine.