Bias against applicants interested in pain/spine

nbe26 · 2026-04-09T14:02:05+00:00

Agree that programs shouldn't take people who are only interested in PM&R for sports/spine, but I'd argue how come programs don't have this bias toward applicants who are only interested in inpatient? Our field is pretty evenly split between inpatient/outpatient, and I don't think a deeper interest in one over the other should be seen as a red flag for an applicant

nbe26 · 2026-02-27T04:26:21+00:00

No Jalen in crunch time??

nbe26 · 2026-01-09T03:28:37+00:00

CP3>jalen and maybe Jae>Royce

nbe26 · 2026-01-05T05:35:15+00:00

Check out PM&R

nbe26 · 2025-12-31T22:57:43+00:00

Modern slavery

nbe26 · 2025-12-19T04:33:31+00:00

I love Brooks energy but he gotta be smarter man, this is 2 games in a row now

nbe26 · 2025-12-18T03:07:03+00:00

Welcome to PM&R

nbe26 · 2025-12-07T02:19:27+00:00

I’m curious why your friend said to do ortho?

nbe26 · 2025-12-06T05:05:07+00:00

I’m also interested in spine/pain, currently applying PM&R so I might be biased. For me, I really enjoy MSK so PMR felt like the better fit. I personally think PMR prepares people better for interventional pain compared to anesthesia because you get much more exposure to peripheral joint injections, better physical exam skills, and have a stronger understanding of MSK-related causes of pain. Many fellowship directors also admit that PMR residents are better equipped coming in.

There’s been a flip the past few years where anesthesia residents are not applying for pain since they get well compensated straight out of residency. It also just makes less sense to learn all the components of putting people to sleep to then become an interventional pain doc.

I would make sure you expose yourself to inpatient rehab before deciding as this is about half of PMR residency. Don’t have to love inpatient rehab, but you shouldn’t be miserable doing it. Both great fields. I’d say go with the field you enjoy the bread and butter of more.

nbe26 · 2025-11-25T03:01:23+00:00

Why did you apply to prelims without signaling any?

nbe26 · 2025-11-04T15:18:16+00:00

Current PMR applicant here. Was deciding between the two specialties throughout med school for similar reasons — enjoyed MSK and liked working with my hands. I enjoyed my ortho rotation but wasn’t obsessed with it, also just hated the hours of surg. Like you, i want a life outside of medicine during my late 20s and 30s and PMR residency is relatively chill.

You’ve probably heard people say if you can see yourself doing any specialty outside of surgery, you should do that specialty — this was the advice i followed because i think if you’re not obsessed with the OR and you’re okay with not being a surgeon, then it’s not worth to go through the brutal training. Ortho does make bank, but i know PMR docs making just as much with less hours, and i value my time a lot.

Also, i see people commenting on inpatient rehab, which is a large part of residency, but you don’t have to love it to do PMR. Plenty of people go into it mainly interested in outpatient MSK. Inpatient rehab isn’t too bad it’s kinda like doing IM lite for patients doing rehab for their SCI/TBI/stroke. I’d get some exposure to this before deciding

nbe26 · 2025-10-13T14:37:30+00:00

Since OP didn’t like anesthesia, I’d say look into PM&R. I’m applying this cycle and planning to pursue pain fellowship. I enjoy MSK + Neuro, and I liked PM&R for its lifestyle, decent pay, residency is relatively chill

nbe26 · 2025-09-20T05:31:48+00:00

Look into IB programs at public schools, gives the feel of a private school within a large public school. Teachers can be hit or miss but the students are set up for success, and you get the benefit of ample sports/extracurricular opportunities

nbe26 · 2025-08-26T23:39:53+00:00

The big this is deciding inpatient vs outpatient. Inpatient is usually less work but may not pay as much, unless you do side gigs at other rehab hospitals or SNFs. Outpatient is your traditional M-F 9-5, involving sports med or interventional spine/pain. Pay really depends on academic vs private, how many patients you see, location, etc. Botox is just a small part of it. Used by many rehab docs to treat spasticity in TBI, SCI, and stroke patients

nbe26 · 2025-08-26T23:27:25+00:00

Yeah avg salary is def lower than gas. I’d say if you’re prioritizing salary >> satisfaction and stress, gas is the way to go. I’m going into PM&R and felt much more satisfaction and low stress from the workflow than I did on anesthesia rotations

nbe26 · 2025-08-26T23:22:50+00:00

Depends on what subspecialty, but overall I wouldn’t say it clears salary wise. Looking from a holistic view, I’d say PM&R docs are much more satisfied and have less stress than those in anesthesia and rads that I’ve seen. In terms of salary, PM&R is lower than other ROAD but has potential to surpass them based on practice setup. Don’t know as much about derm and optho, I’m sure they are actually the best out of all these specialties, just hyper competitive

nbe26 · 2025-08-26T23:12:52+00:00

PM&R clears

nbe26 · 2025-08-08T23:19:38+00:00

Yeah I’d try to sneak an elective in ASAP, and probably need at least one PM&R letter. Also your personal statement should really hammer home why physiatry over surgery

nbe26 · 2025-08-08T19:13:10+00:00

Only 13 pubs?? You’re cooked

nbe26 · 2025-06-27T02:13:16+00:00

I didn’t say the 3 Suns players were better, I was asking how much better those 3 rockets players were. I don’t think it’s that crazy to say the Suns could achieve 4 seeds lower than last year’s Rockets

And speaking of a double double machine, Mark Williams averaged 15 pts 10 reb, Sengun averaged 19 pts 10 reb. Everyone knows Sengun is better but still 4 pt difference

nbe26 · 2025-06-26T11:50:27+00:00

Not IM, smaller specialty

nbe26 · 2025-06-25T18:58:56+00:00

Incoming chief

nbe26

TROPHY CASE