Spine and Sports Rehabilitation Medicine Fellowship

Fellowship Description
One year well-balanced comprehensive sports and spine fellowship in an academic setting. Opportunity for research, team coverage, major race event coverage, spinal injections, electrodiagnosis, teaching residents and medical students, cadaveric dissection, radiology conferences, journal clubs. Flexibility to adapt fellowship to meet individual interests. Exposure to physical therapy, occupational therapy, chiropractic with emphasis on manual medicine and functional rehabilitation. Fifty percent of patient population is non-spine sports-related injuries and other musculoskeletal complaints. Roughly 80% of time on clinical activities, 20% on research.

For more information about the program, please refer to the Spine and Sports Fellowship Brochure.

Faculty          
Colleen Fitzgerald, MD
Scott Fonda, DC  
Christina Hynes, MD
Joseph Ihm, MD
Natasha Kim, DC, L.Ac
Paul Lento, MD                          
Shana Margolis, MD
Joel Press, MD
Joshua Rittenberg, MD    

Fellowship Objectives
I. Care of patient with musculoskeletal pain related complaints

• Gather essential information and accurate patient information
• Develop and implement patient management plans
• Perform competently all medical procedures, provide services aimed at preventing secondary complicationsMake decisions about diagnostic and therapeutic interventions
• Formulate differential diagnosis for patients with regional pain complaintsIdentify indications for imaging, and electrodiagnostic studies
• Identify indications for peripheral joint injection treatmentIdentify indications for ordering spinal injections; able to describe level and routes
• Understand risks of injection treatments
• Compose exercise/therapy prescriptionIdentify conditions that require surgical referral
• Experience reading spine, knee, hip, shoulder, ankle x-rays and spine, knee, shoulder MRI’s Demonstrate the role of the physiatrist and concept of team approach to care, working effectively/collaboratively as leader of the team
• Communicate effectively and demonstrate caring/respectful behaviors with patients and staff
• Experience with performing peripheral joint injection under sterile technique safely
• Experience with performing spinal injection procedures under sterile
• Experience with using fluoroscopy in a safe manner 
• Experience with performing electrodiagnostic tests, interpreting data, and formulating electrodiagnostic impression
• Understand the role for complementary/alternative medicine

II. Clinical Science

• Develop knowledge base of the person impaired by musculoskeletal pain related complaints
• Understand biologic basis for tissue injury and repair
• Understand biologic pain mechanisms
• Understand kinesiology principles of the spine, shoulder, knee, ankle, foot
• Understand clinically relevant anatomy and biomechanics
• Understand physiologic effect of exercise on soft tissues
• Understand physiologic effect of therapeutic modalities on soft tissues
• Understand the degenerative cascade of the spine
• Understand manual and functional rehabilitation approaches

III. System Based Practice

• Appreciate care provided to the person with musculoskeletal pain related complaints in context of larger health care system
• Understand financial and quality of life implications for the patient and society
• Advocating quality patient care and assisting patients in dealing with system complexities
• Partner with health care Managers as appropriate to assess, coordinate, and improve health care and how these activities impact system performance

For more information, please contact:

Joel Press, MD Fellowship Director, Spine and Sports Rehabilitation Fellowship Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago/ Feinberg School of Medicine 1030 N. Clark St, 5th Floor Chicago, IL 60610 Email: jpress@ric.org Phone:(312)-238-1000

Additional information can be obtained from the Office of Medical Education, Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, 345 East Superior Street, Chicago, Illinois 60611, (312) 238-2870. To request information via e-mail write to r-bailey@northwestern.edu