Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Physicians
Diagnose and treat disorders requiring physiotherapy to provide physical, mental, and occupational rehabilitation.
Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Physicians diagnose and treat disorders requiring physiotherapy to provide physical, mental, and occupational rehabilitation. The role is showing modest growth of 2% over the next decade. Entry typically requires a Doctoral or professional degree, and shows low AI exposure (0.28 on a 0-1 scale) — the role's core work resists automation. The most in-demand skills for the role include Critical Thinking, Reading Comprehension, Active Listening, Social Perceptiveness, Speaking.
Pay in the UK
UK: median £92,847 a year for Specialist medical practitioners (ONS ASHE 2025, full-time)
Middle half of full-time jobs: £67,335 to £136,100 a year
UK jobs are grouped differently; this is the closest UK occupation group (ONS SOC 2020 2212). ONS rates this estimate precise. 2025 provisional figures; ONS revises them a year later. Source: ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (Open Government Licence)
Pay in India (occupation group)
Average monthly earnings of salaried employees in the occupation group “Professionals” in India, from the Government of India's Periodic Labour Force Survey (January–December 2025). It covers everyone in this group, not only Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Physicians, and it is not US pay converted to rupees.
Source: MoSPI (Government of India), Periodic Labour Force Survey Annual Report 2025, Table 51 — average wage/salary earnings of regular wage/salaried employees, NCO-2015 division 2. Official India data gives one average per occupation group: there are no official India figures for single careers, experience levels or cities. Read the report
How to get here in India
The usual route into this career in India. Each step links to the official page it comes from.
- 1 · Entrance exam NEET-UG for admission to MBBS[1][2]
- 2 · Qualification MBBS degree from an NMC-listed medical college[3]
- 3 · Registration Registration as a medical practitioner on the National Medical Register / with a State Medical Council[3][4]
- 4 · Qualification NEET-PG for a postgraduate seat, then MD in Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation[5][6]
Rules change: check the exam body's and regulator's current notice before you apply.
- NEET (UG) — National Testing Agency (read on 2026-09-27)
- MCC UG Medical Counselling — Medical Counselling Committee, MoHFW (read on 2026-09-27)
- National Medical Commission — home (read on 2026-09-27)
- NMC — Ethics & Medical Registration Board (read on 2026-09-27)
- MCC PG Medical Counselling — Medical Counselling Committee, MoHFW (read on 2026-09-27)
- NMC — PG Curriculum (competency-based PG programmes) (read on 2026-09-27)
Entrance exams on this route — Dates, eligibility and cut-offs for the exams on the way to this career:
Top skills
Knowledge you'll build
- Medicine and Dentistry
- Psychology
- Biology
- Therapy and Counseling
- Education and Training
- English Language
- Customer and Personal Service
- Administration and Management
What you'd actually do
- Document examination results, treatment plans, and patients' outcomes.
- Examine patients to assess mobility, strength, communication, or cognition.
- Assess characteristics of patients' pain, such as intensity, location, or duration, using standardized clinical measures.
- Provide inpatient or outpatient medical management of neuromuscular disorders, musculoskeletal trauma, acute and chronic pain, deformity or amputation, cardiac or pulmonary disease, or other disabling conditions.
- Monitor effectiveness of pain management interventions, such as medication or spinal injections.
- Develop comprehensive plans for immediate and long-term rehabilitation, including therapeutic exercise, speech and occupational therapy, counseling, cognitive retraining, patient, family or caregiver education, or community reintegration.
Tools & technology you'd use
Frequently asked questions
What does Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Physicians do?
Diagnose and treat disorders requiring physiotherapy to provide physical, mental, and occupational rehabilitation.
What is the job outlook for Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Physicians?
The role is showing modest growth of 2% over the next decade. Current US employment is approximately 340,700 workers.
How do I become physical medicine and rehabilitation physicians?
The typical entry education is a Doctoral or professional degree. Building a foundation in the top skills below will strengthen your application.
What skills does Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Physicians need?
The most in-demand skills for this role include Critical Thinking, Reading Comprehension, Active Listening, Social Perceptiveness, Speaking, Judgment and Decision Making. These are the skills O*NET identifies as most important for competent performance.
Will AI replace Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Physicians?
Our AI-durability model gives Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Physicians a score of 0.28 on a 0-1 scale (higher = more exposure). That places it at low AI exposure — the role's core work resists current-generation automation. It's a comparatively AI-durable choice within its field.
How hard is it to enter this field?
Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Physicians has very high barrier to entry — very highly gated — extended graduate education, licensure, or years of specialised training are required.