Home › MD & MS Books › Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation
What residents and departments actually read in 2026 — with recommended journals, a year-wise reading plan, and the references you'll need for your thesis and practical.
These 17 titles are the standard references for Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, drawn from the NMC PG guidelines and the texts Indian teaching departments work from. Each is shown with the edition in circulation now, so you can print or buy the right one first time.
Source: NMC PG guidelines for Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation
The books most residents actually buy. These are the editions in circulation now, with a note on whether each is something you read cover to cover, keep as a reference, or open only for the viva.
Three years is less time than it sounds. The order below is what works for most MD/MS Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation residents — broad and readable first, reference-level later, revision and drilling last.
Read Braddom cover to cover as the backbone while learning clinical examination, MMT/ROM and ISNCSCI scoring on the ward; add Sunder for Indian disability law and start the thesis protocol.
Move to focused reading with Preston and Shapiro plus Dumitru during the electrodiagnosis posting, Kirshblum for SCI and Webster for orthotics; collect thesis data and present journal clubs.
Do a second Braddom pass with DeLisa for weak areas, run intensive long-case, EMG and orthosis-spotter practice, revise disability certification rules, and submit the thesis early.
Protocol, methodology and reporting standards examiners expect you to have followed.
Books and material specifically useful for the clinical, spotter and viva stations.
These are the physical medicine & rehabilitation titles residents send us to print most often — the books that actually come through the shop, alongside the official list above.
We print files you send us. We do not host, sell or supply book PDFs — send us a file you are entitled to print and we print and bind it.
Sitting the DNB instead? The same reading list, written for the NBE exam, is on the DNB Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation books page.
The titles on this page are the ones residents and departments actually use, each with the edition in circulation now. Start with the first one listed and add the references as your reading deepens.
Braddom's Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation by David X. Cifu (ed.) is the usual anchor. The primary text for theory; residents read it section-wise across the three years.
Yes — we list the edition in circulation now for each title. Editions move quickly, so confirm the current one before you buy or print.
No. Most residents own three or four and use the department or library copy for the rest. That is exactly why printing selected chapters from a PDF works out cheaper than buying volumes you will open twice.
We print from the PDF you send us. Send the file on WhatsApp with your page count and whether you want colour, black and white or mixed, and we print, bind and deliver anywhere in India. We do not supply copyrighted book files.
Black and white is 50 paise per page, colour is Rs 1 per page, and binding is Rs 40 per copy. A 400-page mixed set with binding usually works out around Rs 300 plus delivery.
Send the PDF on WhatsApp — colour Rs 1/page, B&W 50p/page, binding Rs 40. Printed, bound and delivered anywhere in India.
Send your PDF