ia, that other specialists may not encounter enough to feel fully comfortable managing. We work alongside amputee patients, helping optimize residual limb preparation and prosthetic candidacy. We’ re often the physicians providing medical management on inpatient rehabilitation units while simultaneously driving the rehabilitation plan.
On the outpatient side, the range is similarly broad, with work spanning musculoskeletal and spinal conditions, sports injuries, cancer rehabilitation, vestibular disorders and longitudinal care for patients with chronic neurological conditions such as Parkinson’ s disease, multiple sclerosis and post-stroke or post-TBI sequelae. Our electrodiagnostic work, including nerve conduction studies and electromyography, deserves particular mention for neurology and primary care colleagues. When you’ re trying to determine whether a patient’ s leg weakness or numbness reflects peripheral neuropathy, lumbar radiculopathy, plexopathy or something more concerning centrally, we can help clarify the picture. rehabilitation patient isn’ t medically simple. They may be a stroke patient with poorly controlled diabetes and a prior cardiac history, or a spinal cord injury patient navigating autonomic instability. That’ s our wheelhouse, and it’ s what separates PM & R physicians from the rehabilitation therapists we deeply depend on and work alongside.
A Note on Louisville
I’ m genuinely glad to be joining this medical community in a new capacity. I’ ve been immersed in Louisville medicine for the past several years through residency, and I’ ve had the privilege of getting to know many of you through the Greater Louisville Medical Society. I’ ve valued the Society’ s culture of cross-specialty collegiality from the beginning, and I look forward to contributing to it as I transition to the attending side of things.
If you have patients who might benefit from a PM & R consultation, I hope you’ ll reach out. If you’ re ever wondering whether a particular patient is the right fit for our specialty, that conversation is always welcome. That’ s what good medicine in a community looks like.
Dr. Woods begins practice Aug. 5, providing inpatient PM & R consultation and outpatient neurorehabilitation and electrodiagnostics in Louisville. He also serves on the GLMS Foundation Board of Trustees.
What We Bring to Your Patients
Here’ s the practical part, particularly for hospitalists, surgeons and neurologists. When you consult PM & R early, not as a“ discharge planning” afterthought, but as a genuine clinical collaborator, things tend to go better. The literature on this in stroke, TBI and hip fracture is consistent: early rehabilitation consultation is associated with shorter lengths of stay, fewer complications and better functional outcomes at discharge.
We can help you answer the questions that often linger at the bedside: Is this patient a candidate for inpatient rehabilitation? Will they tolerate and benefit from an acute rehab level of care, or would a skilled nursing facility be more appropriate, and why? What’ s driving their cognitive or behavioral changes in the hospital, and what can be done about them? How do we manage this patient’ s spasticity or central pain without compromising their recovery trajectory?
We’ re also comfortable managing complexity. The typical acute
June 2026 29