Residency Program

At the University of Kentucky, the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation offers a residency training program in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. Our mission is to train our residents to provide comprehensive care to the citizens of the Commonwealth of Kentucky – for the Bluegrass Region and beyond.

We offer a 4-year categorical program that focuses on providing a robust and well rounded education through a strong foundation in medical knowledge and with emphasis on maximizing the physical, psychological, social, vocational, and avocational potential of all patients. In addition, we also tailor individual education to the subspecialty interests of our learners, including Brain Injury, Sports, Pain, Pediatric Rehabilitation Medicine, and more. We are fully accredited by the Accreditation Council on Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) of the American Medical Association, and are currently one of three program in the country with Osteopathic Recognition. All residents are accepted at the PGY1 level* through the National Residency Match Program.

Categorical

4-Year Training Program

Complement

7 Residents per Year

Osteopathic Recognition

As of 2024

From UK PM&R Leadership: Welcome!

Hello and welcome to UK PM&R! We are excited that you're interested in our residency program, and even more excited to share our program with you. As a team, we have worked to build a strong and competitive program that pushes residents to be their best, improve their skills, and continuously grow. We invest in our residents by first building a strong foundation that any physiatrist will need, and then focus on training the individual based on career and sub-specialty interest. Our focus involves strengthening all facets of an individual through resilience and adaptability - so that they are ready to take on any challenge they might face in medicine. Each of us serves a different role to help support our residents, but together we lead.

Feel free to take a look around, learn more about us, and see what we are about - we hope you like what you see!

Our program is a 4-year categorical program - no transitional year required, and we currently have 7 residents per year (as of 2026)

Our program is one of three programs in the country with Osteopathic Recognition through the AOA - offering residents the opportunity to participate in additional training and certification in osteopathic principles and practice. This program is also ACGME accredited (as of 2024)!

We offer high levels of procedure exposure compared to the national average, with our total procedures in the 90th percentile:

98%ile in refilling and 97%ile in programming baclofen pumps
97%ile in phenol injections and tendon sheath / bursa injections
96%ile in peripheral nerve injections
93%ile in botulinum toxin injections and intra-artic injections
94%ile in extremity ultrasounds and 91%tile in guidance of ultrasounds
90%ile peripheral joint injections

*Most recent data provided by ACGME for 2024-2025 AY

We offer high levels of procedure exposure compared to the national average, with our total procedures in the 90th percentile:

98%ile in refilling and 97%ile in programming baclofen pumps
97%ile in phenol injections and tendon sheath / bursa injections
96%ile in peripheral nerve injections
93%ile in botulinum toxin injections and intra-artic injections
94%ile in extremity ultrasounds and 91%tile in guidance of ultrasounds
90%ile peripheral joint injections

*Most recent data provided by ACGME for 2024-2025 AY

We offer two paid conferences during residency:

PM&R Specialty Conference: residents can choose either AAP or AAPM&R
PM&R Conference of Choice: residents can choose a national conference based on their specialty interest (ex: ASRA, AMSSM, AOA)

Additionally, we offer research development time for residents to submit / present research beyond the opportunities above - excusing them from clinical work to attend and present.

We offer two paid conferences during residency:

PM&R Specialty Conference: residents can choose either AAP or AAPM&R
PM&R Conference of Choice: residents can choose a national conference based on their specialty interest (ex: ASRA, AMSSM, AOA)

Additionally, we offer research development time for residents to submit / present research beyond the opportunities above - excusing them from clinical work to attend and present.

Our program offers varying annual education stipends to each PGY level to support resident choice in educational materials. Resident can choose to have this stipend paid out or used for department purchases:

PGY-1: $500
PGY-2 / PGY-3: $600
PGY-4: $1400

The department also offers additional resources including a 3-year subscription to PM&R Recap, a physical copy of PM&R Board Review, a digital library with access to thousands of textbooks and learning modules, and more.

PGY-1: $500
PGY-2 / PGY-3: $600
PGY-4: $1400

We offer multiple avenues to explore and pursue career interests of individual residents:

Sports and Pain Exposure during PGY-1 year
Elective rotations for each PGY 2-4 year, with time for both research and clinical advancement
A "Selective" rotation during PGY-3 year designed with more flexibility for resident interest
Exposure to advanced programs including our ACGME accredited Brain Injury Medicine Fellowship, as well as our partnership with the Interventional Pain Fellowship (UK Anesthesiology)
Protected time off for career and research opportunities (interviews, presentations, etc.)

We offer multiple avenues to explore and pursue career interests of individual residents:

Sports and Pain Exposure during PGY-1 year
Elective rotations for each PGY 2-4 year, with time for both research and clinical advancement
A "Selective" rotation during PGY-3 year designed with more flexibility for resident interest
Exposure to advanced programs including our ACGME accredited Brain Injury Medicine Fellowship, as well as our partnership with the Interventional Pain Fellowship (UK Anesthesiology)
Protected time off for career and research opportunities (interviews, presentations, etc.)

All UK GME Programs (including the PM&R Residency Program) are guaranteed the same benefits across UK - from stipends to paid FMLA, our GME office provides details on all aspects of trainee benefits, including: