Rehabilitation of the Combat Casualty: Lessons Learned from Past and Current Conflicts

The field of rehabilitation is deeply rooted in military medicine, especially in promoting the restoration of function and community reintegration of injured service members returning from war. Since military operations began in Iraq and Afghanistan over a decade ago, rehabilitative care programs have been integral in supporting the Military Healthcare System in providing high quality comprehensive care for combat casualties and their families, particularly those with complex blast injuries resulting in conditions such as amputation and other limb dysfunction, traumatic brain injury, and spinal cord injury. Fundamental to a successful rehabilitation program is the coordination of interdisciplinary care that not only crosses multiple medical specialties and disciplines, but also promotes ongoing education, research, quality improvement and readiness. This brief article is intended to highlight some of the most important lessons learned from current and past conflicts in delivering the highest quality rehabilitative care to our nation's heroes.