physical medicine

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noun

the branch of medicine dealing with the diagnosis and treatment of disease and injury by means of physical agents, as manipulation, massage, exercise, heat, or water.

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Also called physiatrics, physiatry.

Origin of physical medicine

First recorded in 1935–40

Words nearby physical medicine

physicality, physicalize, physical jerks, physically, physically challenged, physical medicine, physical meteorology, physical optics, physical pendulum, physicals, physical science

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use physical medicine in a sentence

Also, she was tall and thin, too, further adding to the ways she met the physical beauty conventions.
Why Was Bess Myerson the First and Last Jewish Miss America?|Emily Shire|January 7, 2015|DAILY BEAST
The trials produced positive results, published in The New England Journal of Medicine in November.
The Race for the Ebola Vaccine|Abby Haglage|January 7, 2015|DAILY BEAST
And with the dance sequence, we wanted something very physical.
Coffee Talk with Fred Armisen: On ‘Portlandia,’ Meeting Obama, and Taylor Swift’s Greatness|Marlow Stern|January 7, 2015|DAILY BEAST
But this physical involvement, or lack of it, is only part of the problem.
Flight 8501 Poses Question: Are Modern Jets Too Automated to Fly?|Clive Irving|January 4, 2015|DAILY BEAST

If laughter is the best medicine, The Comeback made you feel enough pain to need a dose—and then it delivered in spades.
‘The Comeback’ Finale: Give Lisa Kudrow All of the Awards|Kevin Fallon|December 29, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The foreman's immense voice, explaining machines and tools, caused physical vibrations in her.
Hilda Lessways|Arnold Bennett
The two enjoyed a mutual understanding from which he was excluded, a private intimacy that was spiritual, mental,— physical.
The Wave|Algernon Blackwood
Its continued presence in pulmonary tuberculosis is, however, a grave prognostic sign, even when the physical signs are slight.
A Manual of Clinical Diagnosis|James Campbell Todd
I rejoice in being able to say that the general tendency of the speeches was towards universal Emancipation, mental and physical.
Glances at Europe|Horace Greeley
Insult and outrage seemed to have given that bodily vigour to Ripperda, which medicine and surgery had taken no pains to restore.
The Pastor's Fire-side Vol. 3 of 4|Jane Porter

British Dictionary definitions for physical medicine

physical medicine

noun

the branch of medicine devoted to the management of physical disabilities, as resulting from rheumatic disease, asthma, poliomyelitis, etcSee also rehabilitation (def. 2)

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for physical medicine

physical medicine

The branch of medicine that deals with the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disease and disability by physical means such as manipulation, massage, and exercise, often with mechanical devices, and the application of heat, cold, electricity, radiation, and water.