When seeking rehabilitation services after cancer treatment, it's important to look for health care providers with experience treating cancer patients, says palliative medicine specialist Dr. Stewart Fleishman. Learn how to find such specialists.
Well surprisingly, rehabilitation is a new area in the cancer world and that maybe isn't so surprising now that people are living longer and longer, having had a cancer and need to get back to themselves. In general, rehabilitation is provided by a whole specialty area which is called physiatry or physical medicine rehabilitation and there are people who do [xx] and then physical medicine and then are board certified and then work with a variety of other professionals, occupational therapists, physical therapists, speech therapists, [xx] therapist, a variety of people who real specialize in sub areas of the whole idea that somebody can rehabilitated, or somebody can actual use professional help to feel better and be more functional after their treatment.
Not all those folks are for cancer savvy, so again go back to your cancer specialist and ask them who in your community, do they have experience with providing real good care to people after cancer treatment, it's a little different than having had a stroke or having had a car accident and having a brain injury.
Cancer rehabilitation is a specialized area and there are more and more people all over the country, who are experienced in this very special area.
Stewart Fleishman, MD, is a cancer researcher and the author of companion books, LEARN to Live Through Cancer: What You Need to Know and Do and the Manual of Cancer Treatment Recovery: What the Practitioner Needs to Know and Do.
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