AI exposure by occupation, O*NET 29-1229.04
Will AI replace Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Physicians?
Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Physicians: AI can already handle 2 of 15 tasks; the work mostly needs a standard-tier model.
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Every task, scored
The 15 tasks O*NET 30.3 lists for Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Physicians, from most to least exposed. 2 reach 60 or more, the level at which AI already handles a task.
| Task | AI exposure | Evidence | Model tier |
|---|---|---|---|
| Assess characteristics of patients' pain, such as intensity, location, or duration, using standardized clinical measures. | Estimated | Standard | |
| Consult or coordinate with other rehabilitative professionals, including physical and occupational therapists, rehabilitation nurses, speech pathologists, neuropsychologists, behavioral psychologists, social workers, or medical technicians. | Estimated | Standard | |
| Provide inpatient or outpatient medical management of neuromuscular disorders, musculoskeletal trauma, acute and chronic pain, deformity or amputation, cardiac or pulmonary disease, or other disabling conditions. | Estimated | Efficient | |
| Monitor effectiveness of pain management interventions, such as medication or spinal injections. | Estimated | Standard | |
| Perform electrodiagnosis, including electromyography, nerve conduction studies, or somatosensory evoked potentials of neuromuscular disorders or damage. | Estimated | Standard | |
| Instruct interns and residents in the diagnosis and treatment of temporary or permanent physically disabling conditions. | Estimated | Standard | |
| Conduct physical tests, such as functional capacity evaluations, to determine injured workers' capabilities to perform the physical demands of their jobs. | Estimated | Standard | |
| Document examination results, treatment plans, and patients' outcomes. | Estimated | Efficient | |
| Develop comprehensive plans for immediate and long-term rehabilitation, including therapeutic exercise, speech and occupational therapy, counseling, cognitive retraining, patient, family or caregiver education, or community reintegration. | Estimated | Frontier | |
| Coordinate physical medicine and rehabilitation services with other medical activities. | Estimated | Standard | |
| Examine patients to assess mobility, strength, communication, or cognition. | Estimated | No tier | |
| Prescribe physical therapy to relax the muscles and improve strength. | Estimated | No tier | |
| Prescribe therapy services, such as electrotherapy, ultrasonography, heat or cold therapy, hydrotherapy, debridement, short-wave or microwave diathermy, and infrared or ultraviolet radiation, to enhance rehabilitation. | Estimated | No tier | |
| Diagnose or treat performance-related conditions, such as sports injuries or repetitive-motion injuries. | Estimated | No tier | |
| Prescribe orthotic and prosthetic applications and adaptive equipment, such as wheelchairs, bracing, or communication devices, to maximize patient function and self-sufficiency. | Estimated | No tier |
Observed: scored from AI use recorded in the Anthropic Economic Index (June 2026 release), 0 of 15 tasks. Estimated: scored from the task's O*NET 30.3 work activity, 15 of 15. Importance is O*NET's 1 to 5 rating of how central the task is. Model tier is the lowest tier that can do the task under the published rubric; "No tier" marks hands-on work.
The model tier this role needs
A standard-tier model or lower covers 61% of the role's importance-weighted task work. 67% of the work is something AI can address at some tier, and 33% is hands-on.
Efficient, standard and frontier tiers come from the JobRoute model tier reference. The recommended tier is the lowest one that covers 80% of the work AI can address. How the method works.
Wages, employment and outlook
- US employment
- 342,720
- Median annual wage
- $265,930
- Middle half of earners
- $102,930 to $378,770
- Projected change, 2024 to 2034
- +2.5%
Employment and wages: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, national. Projection: BLS Employment Projections 2024 to 2034. BLS publishes these figures by SOC code, so O*NET occupations that share a SOC code show the same figures.
Adjacent roles
The occupations that reuse the most of this role's skills, with the usual time to move. These are the first places to look when you plan to redeploy or retrain people in this role.
- Sports Medicine Physicians 69% skill overlap, about 11 months to move Exposure48
- Physical Therapists 68% skill overlap, about 12 months to move Exposure63
- Family Medicine Physicians 66% skill overlap, about 12 months to move Exposure35
- Preventive Medicine Physicians 65% skill overlap, about 13 months to move Exposure59
- General Internal Medicine Physicians 65% skill overlap, about 13 months to move Exposure31
Skill overlap and transition time from the JobRoute role adjacency graph on O*NET 30.3 skills.
Questions about Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Physicians and AI
Will AI replace Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Physicians?
AI already handles 2 of the 15 tasks O*NET lists for this occupation, at a task exposure of 60 or more, and the role's importance-weighted exposure is 40 out of 100. JobRoute scores tasks, not whole jobs, so the score shows how much of the work changes rather than whether the job disappears. BLS projects employment to change by +2.5% from 2024 to 2034.
What is the AI exposure of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Physicians?
40 out of 100 on JobRoute's task exposure measure, the importance-weighted average of the role's O*NET task scores. Higher means more of the work is AI-doable today. 0 of the 15 task scores are observed in the Anthropic Economic Index (June 2026 release), and the other 15 are estimated from each task's O*NET work activity.
Which Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Physicians tasks can AI already do?
The tasks with the highest exposure are: Assess characteristics of patients' pain, such as intensity, location, or duration, using standardized clinical measures; Consult or coordinate with other rehabilitative professionals, including physical and occupational therapists, rehabilitation nurses, speech pathologists, neuropsychologists, behavioral psychologists, social workers, or medical technicians. They are the tasks that reach 60 or more.
What AI model tier does this role need?
A standard-tier model or lower covers 61% of the role's importance-weighted task work, and 33% is hands-on work that no model tier covers. JobRoute assigns each task the lowest tier that can do it under a published rubric and recommends the lowest tier that covers 80% of the work AI can address.
How many people work as Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Physicians, and what do they earn?
342,720 people in the United States, with a median annual wage of $265,930 (BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025). BLS Employment Projections expect a change of +2.5% from 2024 to 2034.
How to cite
Data version 2026-11-02, JobRoute method v1.0.0. Download all occupations or this occupation as JSON. Methodology.
JobRoute (2026). AI exposure: Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Physicians. Data version 2026-11-02, method v1.0.0. Built on O*NET 30.3, BLS OEWS May 2025 and the Anthropic Economic Index (June 2026). CC BY 4.0. https://www.jobroute.ai/jobs/physical-medicine-and-rehabilitation-physicians
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