Specialty of Rehabilitation Medicine—Physical Medicine and iPS Cells— / The Japanese Journal of Rehabilitation Medicine

ABSTRACT

At the end of 2012, Prof S Yamanaka received the Nobel Prize for his work on induced pluripotent stem cells. Now iPS cell therapy, his contribution to regenerative medicine, will shine a light on many disabled persons. The dream of curing patients with upper motor neuron diseases, such as spinal cord injury (SCI), Parkinson disease, strokes etc will finally come true. Dr Krusen, the father of Rehabilitation Medicine or Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, defined this specialty as consisting of two categories one being the Phys Med, a branch of medicine using physical agents such as heat, water, electricity, mechanical agents, therapeutic exercises and recent sophisticated physical modalities in diagnosing and treating neuro-musculo-skeletal diseases. The other being Rehab, which denotes “enabling the patient to return to his/her previous social setting.” In the past, the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine at Keio University used to collaborate with the Department of Physiology to adapt embryonic stem cell therapy for treating SCI, Parkinson diseases etc along with physical modalities. Going forward, research in “iPS cell therapy or regenerative medicine” should be the primary concern of PM&R specialists as it is the first step on our way to the next generation in the specialty of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation or Rehabilitation Medicine.