Rehabilitation Medicine

Professor Dr. med. Christoph Gutenbrunner, Director of the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine

Professor Christoph Gutenbrunner, MD, PhD, is an internationally recognized specialist in physical and rehabilitation medicine.
He is European Board certified for physical and rehabilitation medicine and has additional qualifications in manual medicine and balneology.
He is active in the leading European and international professional organizations of rehabilitation medicine.

Professor Gutenbrunner has published more than 200 scientific papers and textbook articles. He is editor of five textbooks and of the White Book for Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine in Europe.

Professor Gutenbrunner is a specialist for the rehabilitation of patients with chronic pain, conditions of the locomotor system, and job-oriented rehabilitation programs. His scientific works cover a wide range of topics, including subjective and objective needs for rehabilitation, innovative rehabilitation concepts, outcomes of rehabilitation programs, effects of physical modalities, and teaching programs for undergraduate and postgraduate medical education.

The Department for Rehabilitation Medicine of the Hannover Medical School is one of the leading departments of physical medicine and rehabilitation in Germany and Europe. It provides both inpatient and outpatient services.

All rehabilitation programs are carried out in multidisciplinary rehabilitation teams including medical specialists for physical and rehabilitation medicine, neurology, manual medicine, acupuncture, balneology, and geriatrics, as well as physiotherapists, occupational therapists, masseurs, lymphotherapists, sports therapists, and speech and dysphagia specialists.   

Clinical Profile

The Department of Rehabilitation Medicine provides all modern methods of physical and rehabilitation medicine, including functional diagnostics, therapeutic modalities, and comprehensive, team-oriented intervention programs, for example:

• Functional assessments, including manual medicine
• Physical and rehabilitation medicine, neurology, manual medicine, acupuncture and geriatric medicine
• Injections and musculoskeletal medicine
• Physiotherapy, including manual therapy and neurophysiological therapies
• Underwater or pool exercise
• Sports and training therapy
• Occupational therapy, including functional treatments for everyday activities, technical supports, orthoses
• Lymphotherapy
• Massage and thermotherapy
• Balneo- and hydrotherapy  
• Speech and dysphagia therapy

Wherever indicated, all diagnostic methods available at Hannover Medical School can be used here, such as X-ray diagnostics, magnetic resonance imaging, neurophysiological measurements, cardio-vascular diagnostics, and psychosomatic evaluation. The Department of Rehabilitation Medicine works in close cooperation with several other departments at the MHH.

The following conditions are indications for treatment and rehabilitation in the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine:

• Acute and chronic low back pain
• Syndromes of the dorsal and cervical spine
• Osteoarthritis (hip, knee, ankle, shoulder, elbow, hand)
• Rheumatoid arthritis and other inflammatory conditions
• Fibromyalgia and chronic, widespread pain
• Osteoporosis
• Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS)
• Disabling conditions of the central nervous system (for example after stroke and traumatic brain damage)
• Chronic diseases and traumatic damage of the peripheral nervous system
• Post-acute rehabilitation after trauma and surgery, especially orthopedic and hand surgery

Specialized rehabilitation programs:

• Long-term rehabilitation of patients with breast cancer
• Incontinence
• Disorders of the cranio-mandibular joints
• Job-oriented rehabilitation
• Prevention and rehabilitation of all disorders of the locomotor system
• Lymphatic therapy
• Neuro-rehabilitation

Scientific Profile

Subjects of recent research projects:

• Mechanisms of pain sensitization by dysfunction of the cranio-mandibular and sacro-iliac joints
• Effects of acupuncture, functional orthoses and balneologic modalities
• Concepts for and outcomes of neurorehabilitation
• Concepts for and outcomes of rehabilitation in acute settings 
• Subjective and objective needs for rehabilitation
• Evaluation of patient education programs in rehabilitation
• Gender- and age-specific needs for rehabilitation
• Effects of innovative rehabilitation
• Concepts for breast cancer and problems at the workplace
• Long-term effects of inpatient rehabilitation programs

The Center for Rehabilitation Research is financed by the German pension insurance system and is one of the leading institutions in this field in Germany.
The Department of Rehabilitation Medicine cooperates closely in joint projects with many national and international universities and scientific institutes.

Homepage Department of Rehabilitation Medicine