The Department of Rehabilitation Medicine was originally established as the Physical Therapy Room in 1957, and officially became an independent department in 1996, making it one of the earliest specialized rehabilitation medicine departments in China, The department is now the key clinical specialty of Chongqing, Chongqing “flagship” department of Chinese and Western medicine, with Chongqing Key Laboratory of Physical Medicine and Precision Rehabilitation, master's degree and doctor's degree awarding point of Rehabilitation Medicine. It is also the president unit of Chongqing Rehabilitation Specialist Alliance, National Key Base of Standardized Residency Training, China Rehabilitation Medicine Association Critical Illness Rehabilitation Training Base, Rehabilitation Nurse Training Base, Science Education Base, and Chongqing Nursing Association Rehabilitation Specialist Nurse Training Base, Standardized Training Base for Rehabilitation Therapists in hospital.
The department stands at the forefront of rehabilitation medicine in China, offering state-of-the-art diagnosis and treatment in neurological rehabilitation, orthopedic rehabilitation, and critical care rehabilitation. It operates dedicated specialty outpatient clinics for a range of conditions, including neck, shoulder, and lower back pain, swallowing rehabilitation, post-operative joint rehabilitation, pelvic floor rehabilitation, stroke rehabilitation, spinal cord injury rehabilitation, and neurogenic bladder rehabilitation. The department integrates cutting-edge rehabilitation techniques, some of which are nationally acclaimed, including evaluation and treatment of critical (cardiopulmonary) rehabilitation, assessment and wake-up facilitation of consciousness disorders, lower limb rehabilitation robot training technology, ultrasound-guided visual interventional therapy, Platelet-rich Plasma (PRP) therapy, neuro-hydraulic separation, modern hydrotherapy, non-surgical spinal decompression, virtual reality (bare-eye VR) training, three-dimensional gait analysis, visualized swallowing assessment (FEES), MTT training, ceiling track training, rehabilitation engineering (prosthetic and orthotic production), and urodynamics examination. Among these, rehabilitation robot training technology and modern hydrotherapy techniques are particularly renowned in China.
The department boasts a comprehensive and well-structured medical infrastructure, with 160 beds distributed across three specialized campuses: Critical Care Rehabilitation Unit (Yuanjiagang Campus), Specialized Rehabilitation Unit (Jingwei Campus), and Elderly Chronic Disease Rehabilitation Units (Qinggang Campus). The department is supported by a highly skilled professional team of 117 personnel, including 11 senior specialists, 19 mid-level specialists, 15 Ph.D. holders, and 20 master's degree holders. The department also has 1 doctoral supervisor, 7 master supervisors, and 2 distinguished talent holders. The department is led by Professor BAI Dingqun, a prominent national expert who serves as a standing committee member of the Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Branch of the Chinese Medical Association and a standing committee member of the Rehabilitation Physicians Branch of the Chinese Medical Doctor Association. The department has established a well-structured subspecialty framework, encompassing Critical (cardiopulmonary) Rehabilitation, Spinal Cord Injury Rehabilitation, Neurological Rehabilitation, Chronic Pain Rehabilitation, and Post-operative Orthopedic Rehabilitation. Additionally, specialized divisions have been created for early rehabilitation and occupational injury rehabilitation. In response to the full-cycle rehabilitation needs of various diseases, the department has become a platform department for the entire hospital and has developed a “multidisciplinary collaboration” model with related specialties. During the acute phase of illness, early preoperative and postoperative rehabilitation is initiated within clinical departments; during the subacute phase, specialized intensive rehabilitation services are provided, including critical care rehabilitation; during the chronic phase, patients are managed in elderly-care-integrated rehabilitation homes, ensuring long-term rehabilitative support and graded rehabilitation care; and for post-discharge patients, a home-based rehabilitation extension service ensures continued recovery after hospital discharge. This “Patient-Centered, Early Bedside Rehabilitation” Model aligns with Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) protocols, ensuring rehabilitation is seamlessly integrated into the full continuum of disease management and life cycle care. In response to China’s aging population and growing demand for assistive rehabilitation solutions, the department has spearheaded groundbreaking initiatives to bridge healthcare disparities in the vast and geographically complex western regions of the country. Under the “Healthy China” national strategy, the department has developed personalized, modular intelligent rehabilitation aids, built a cloud-based platform for rehabilitation aid applications, and formulated related standards for rehabilitation aid configuration and services. The department has established demonstration zones for elderly disability prevention in 22 representative regions in western China and conducted standardized rehabilitation aid demonstrations, aiming to create an intelligent rehabilitation aid service system network spanning institutions, communities, and households in the western regions, contributing the experience and strength of the west to assistive device services in China. Meanwhile, the department is actively involved in the practice of “medical-care integration”, innovatively incorporating this model to support the development of the rehabilitation specialty by establishing rehabilitation wards, providing rehabilitation services, and training elderly care staff in integrated care homes. This approach aims to address the elderly’s medical and functional needs, seamlessly integrating elderly care and rehabilitation, and continuously improving the skills of care personnel.
The department has been approved 45 scientific research projects in the past 5 years. Among them, it has led one national key research and development project, presided over one sub-project of the national key research and development programme, obtained 9 National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) projects, and 34 provincial and municipal-level Projects. Notably, the department has received the “Chongqing Talent-Innovation Demonstration Team” and the “Chongqing Higher Education Innovation Group”, highlighting its excellence in academic research. Furthermore, the department has published over 100 academic papers, including 25 SCI-indexed publications. Participated in the editing of 11 professional textbooks, one of which is a national-level standardized residency training textbook for rehabilitation physicians.