New Technologies Will Propel Novel Approaches in PM&R, says AAPM&R President-Elect

What if we could detect the origin of back pain based on walking pattern data from a cell phone's pedometer or predict an older person's risk for a fall using kinesthetic readings from a simple type of wearable device. What about use of AI in remote care for patients with mobility deficits from an accident?

DJ Kennedy, MD, president-elect of the American Academy of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, is intrigued by the potential for all types of technology to take diagnosis, monitoring, and treatment of conditions seen in the PM&R setting to new levels of sophistication and success. He explains in this conversation with Patient Care.^®

DJ Kennedy, MD, is president-elect of the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and professor in and chair of physical medicine and rehabilitation at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, in Nashville, TN, where his practice focuses on nonoperative and interventional spine care. He has served as a senior editor for the journal PM&R, on the editorial board for Pain Medicine, and as a deputy editor for The Spine Journal. Kennedy also is current president of the Spine Intervention Society.