Doctors and pharmacists
Rehabilitation physician
A doctor who specialises in function rather than diagnosis, and who often owns the problems that fall between other specialists.
A rehabilitation physician works on what you can do and what is making that harder. Stiffness, spasticity, pain, positioning, equipment prescription and sometimes botulinum toxin for saliva or spasticity. Not every system routes ALS/MND care through one, but where they exist they are frequently the doctor who takes on symptoms nobody else has claimed.
How you reach this person, and who pays, depends on where you live. Set your country in Location and Compass will show what applies there.
What they can help with
- Stiffness and spasticity, including medication and injections
- Pain that comes from posture, positioning or immobility rather than from nerves
- Prescribing and signing off complex equipment in some systems
- Coordinating therapy goals across physiotherapy and occupational therapy
- Botulinum toxin for saliva or for focal spasticity, where that is offered
When you might meet them
- When stiffness or cramps are not controlled by what you have already tried
- When pain has become a daily issue
- When several therapists are involved and nobody is joining it up
- When complex seating or equipment needs medical sign-off
Things you could ask about
- Is this pain something we can treat, or something we manage?
- What are the options for stiffness beyond what I am already taking?
- Are you the person who signs off my equipment, or is that someone else?