Welcome to Rehabilitation Matters,
the site for everyone interested in rehabilitation.
This site is unashamedly evangelical about rehabilitation, its importance to patients and their families, its never-ending fascination, and its intellectual and emotional challenges. It is a personal website, expressing a personal view of rehabilitation. The view is based on over 40 years of experience, research, writing and, most of all, thinking. It is, I hope, based on evidence; it is, I hope, not afraid to challenge orthodox beliefs where they need challenging; and it is, I hope, informative.
Derick Wade. For more, see About and Purpose.
This site covers any topic relevant to rehabilitation from any perspective – patient, friend or relative, professional, purchaser, researcher, or someone who is just interested.
At present, in March 2023, it covers what rehabilitation is, training and education, the patient’s viewpoint, rehabilitation in the UK, and a blog which covers everything else! I am currently reviewing and updating all content and presentation.
May 29th 2023.
I have published one blog post (on my birthday) on leadership and the rehabilitation team, stimulated by a talk by Carlotte Kiekens at the RIMS conference in Genoa. I have upgraded two posts on specialist rehabilitation services and helping to change rehabilitation, and I have updated the page on the British Society of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine (previously the BSRM). I hope to continue with my work on the syllabus soon.
As the strapline says, this site is all about rehabilitation and about all rehabilitation. I do not know of other sites centred on rehabilitation itself. Academic journals such as Clinical Rehabilitation (which I edited) and Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation publish short articles about specific topics. Sites such as the British Society of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine or the Society for Research in Rehabilitation have a particular focus (medical aspects or research). Textbooks such as the Oxford Handbook of Rehabilitation Medicine rarely discuss rehabilitation in detail, mainly having chapters on topics.
This site is for everyone curious about or interested in rehabilitation, from experts to people knowing nothing, from rehabilitation professionals through other healthcare workers to politicians, patients, and the public, from those who pay to those who provide. This site is interested in all types of healthcare rehabilitation regardless of age, setting, or condition. It will touch on all aspects.
The content will inevitably reflect my philosophy and approach. I have recently written about this. I believe rehabilitation must be centred on the person, always consider longer-term social goals, and that rehabilitation professionals need to develop wisdom, which is the best way to respond to the many uncertainties and complexities associated with many of our patients. We must remain humane and remember that patients are people, just like us.
I also consider important philosophical aspects of rehabilitation, such as the distinctions between disease, disability, sickness, and illness or, of equal importance, what is rehabilitation. I will refer to a book I have just bought, The Routledge Companion to the Philosophy of Medicine.
This website’s goal is to improve rehabilitation generally, and particularly in the UK. I cannot know what you were looking for or would like to see. Please use the feedback button in the footer to contact me suggesting new areas that might be of interest and commenting on what you read. I intend to reply to all comments and feedback and to change or add material where possible. I am specially interested in receiving contributions suggestion what you, the reader, offer to the rehabilitation as a professional, patient, family member or person. There is a category of blog post, “What do we add”. Any contribution is welcome and will acknowledge the author(s).
In this blog post, I propose that developing formally recognised and commissioned rehabilitation networks of service providers could solve many problems that have never been resolved successfully. I am taking forward ideas
At a recent meeting in Genoa of RIMS (Rehabilitation in Multiple Sclerosis), Dr Carlotte Kiekens discussed the leadership of the rehabilitation team, providing some challenging evidence and ideas to consider. In this
Over the years, I have heard people advocating strongly for specialist rehabilitation services for people with stroke, multiple sclerosis, traumatic brain injury, motor neurone disease, Huntington’s disorder, and many other specific diseases.
Rehabilitation services should pay attention to loneliness. It is common, associated with many long-term conditions in rehabilitation, including chronic pain, more common in people with disabilities, and associated with increased morbidity and
In 1978, I submitted my first paper to the British Medical Journal. It concerned what we now refer to as functional disorders, the phenomenon of illness with no identified disease causing it.
What is slow-stream rehabilitation? Dr John Burn is leading a group in writing guidance and standards for nursing homes (care home, skilled nursing facilities) that undertake rehabilitation for some or all residents.
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