Dr. Jeffrey Heckman is a board certified physiatrist and a University of Washington assistant professor in the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine and also the Director of the Regional Amputation Center at the VA Puget Sound Health Care System. He specializes in the evaluation and management of the medical and functional aspects of rehabilitation following amputation, including prosthesis prescription, phantom limb pain and musculoskeletal injuries, as well as for arthritis-related joint pain and other age-related musculoskeletal conditions. His research interests are mobile technology, phantom limb pain, and peer support, and his teaching interests include amputation/limb loss and prosthetics/orthotics. He received his undergraduate degree from Penn State University and his osteopathic medical degree from the University of New England. He completed his residency training in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the NYU Langone Medical Center, Rusk Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine.
In Part 2, Dr. Heckman discusses: children involved in amputations and their rehabilitation; how neighboring parts of the body may be affected by amputation; provision of relief from phantom pain; use of mirror therapy in treatment of phantom limb pain; translation of clinical findings and evidence-based research to the bedside in a timely manner; key research topics aimed at improving patient care of amputees; patient involvement in medical decision-making; patients’ resilience and positive willingness to want to participate actively in all aspects of rehabilitation; role of in-home telehealth therapy programs; and major challenges facing the profession of physical medicine and rehabilitation.