[WHAT IS "PHYSICAL MEDICINE" - THE FIELD OF PHYSICAL MEDICINE AND REHABILITATION IN ISRAEL?]

Background: The field of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation is as diverse and broad as any field in medicine. The two, seemingly different, fields developed separately and over time (as later presented) merged into one specialty. This resulted in an initial asymmetry of focus amongst training programs - and indeed countries. In Israel, although rehabilitation medicine is on par with the highest levels in the world, its partner, physical medicine (PM) has suffered to the extent that it is practically invisible in some of the training hospitals in our country.

Objectives: We will define PM, explain why it is less developed in Israel, and present the methods being employed to rectify the training imbalance.

Methods: A systematic literature review was performed for prior descriptions and issues in PM in Israel. The search was conducted using four databases (PubMed, Google Scholar, ScienceDirect and the Cochrane Library). Searches were not limited by language or date, reflecting all available data.

Results: No articles were identified. This was anticipated as the field of PM is in the process of development in Israel.

Conclusions: Whereas PM has been an official partner of rehabilitation medicine in Israel and prominently featured in academic syllabi, the reality has been otherwise. Our article delineates why this developed and the plans and methods on how it is changing, allowing Israel to be a world leader in all aspects of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation.