You teach physical medicine and rehabilitation to medical students, residents, or fellows — covering rehabilitation, electrodiagnosis, musculoskeletal medicine, and the clinical reasoning physiatrists develop. Half academic faculty, half practicing or recently practicing physiatrist.
Most days tend to involve a blend of classroom teaching, clinical supervision, and continued clinical practice — leading didactic sessions, supervising residents on inpatient rehab or in clinics, and seeing your own patients. You'll often spend part of the time on scholarly work that academic physiatry expects.
The harder part is often balancing the multiple demands of teaching, clinical care, and scholarship in a specialty where rehabilitation outcomes unfold over weeks and months. You'll typically work with learners at varied readiness, while staying credible clinically with the patients and rehabilitation teams that depend on you.
People who tend to thrive here are clinically expert, patient with rehabilitation arcs, and scholarly. The trade-off is the salary differential between academic and private physiatry and the cumulative work of academic responsibilities. If you find satisfaction in shaping the next generation of physiatrists, the work can carry meaning that pure clinical practice doesn't.
Where this role sits in the broader career landscape — and where it can take you.
Roles like this one sit within a broader occupational category. The numbers below reflect that full landscape — helpful for context, but your specific experience will depend on level, specialty, and where you work.
You teach physical medicine and rehabilitation to medical students, residents, or fellows — covering rehabilitation, electrodiagnosis, musculoskeletal medicine, and the clinical reasoning physiatrists develop. Half academic faculty, half practicing or recently practicing physiatrist.
Median pay for a Physical Medicine Teacher is about $106K nationally, with the field ranging roughly from $52K to $208K depending on experience, employer, and metro (BLS).
Core skills for this role include Instructing, Reading Comprehension, Speaking, Active Listening, and Writing.
Most people in this role hold a master's degree.
Employment in this field is projected to grow about 17.3% through 2034, with roughly 229,720 people working in it today (BLS).
Closely related roles include Physical Education Director, Health Teacher, and First Aid Teacher.
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