Rehabilitation medicine, systems, and health: A biopsychosocial perspective

Rehabilitation medicine represents a substantial area of growth in the healthcare industry over the course of the last two decades. Historically characterized by collaborative, interdisciplinary team approaches and the inclusion of family members in treatment, rehabilitation medicine targets restoration of functional abilities in individuals with debilitating illness or injury. Interestingly, systems /biopsychosocial frameworks that have been incorporated into other areas of medicine have been underutilized in the rehabilitation context. Systems theory and biopsychosocial approaches to rehabilitation medicine appear to have considerable value and utility in this field, particularly in light of current and proposed healthcare reform. We argue that the systems perspective, which has enjoyed success in the area of family systems medicine, can be further extended into the rehabilitation context. A systems perspective as applied to the rehabilitation setting is provided in the present article, and recommendations are made for increased involvement by systemstrained professionals from clinical, re