About Our Office
Physiatrists:
Or rehabilitation physicians, are nerve, muscle, and bone experts who treat injuries or illnesses that affect facility and comfort of your body movement and rest. Rehabilitation physician is medical doctor who have completed additional training (residency) in the medical specialty of physical medicine and rehabilitation (PM&R) and achieved Royal College of Canada designation as medical specialist.
Physiatrists specialize in restoring optimal function to people with injuries to the muscles, bones, tissues, and nervous system (such as patients with chronic pain after an injury).
Expertise:
Common conditions treated by a rehabilitation specialist include (lists not exclusive) chronic pain, arthritis, spinal cord injury, sports injury, stroke, musculoskeletal pain syndromes such as low back, neck and joints pain, tendonitis, concussion, fibromyalgia, myofascial pain syndrome and whiplash associated disorder.
Goal:
Rehabilitation physicians take the time needed to accurately pinpoint the source of an ailment, as they strongly believe that only with an accurate diagnosis treatment can succeed. Physiatrist then design a treatment plan that can be carried out by doctor and patient together, possibly with the help of other medical professionals and therapists. Among treatment options physiatrist can prescribe medications, provide injections, evaluate and guide your exercise program and any changes required to control your symptoms and improve your abilities at your home and workplace.
By providing an appropriate treatment plan, rehabilitation physicians help patients stay as active as possible at any age. Their broad medical expertise allows them to treat disabling conditions throughout a person’s lifetime.
Personal:
Dr. Maryana Apel is a duly qualified medical practitioner licensed to practice in the Provinces of Alberta and British Columbia. She is a member of the Royal College of Physicians & Surgeons of Canada and is recognized as a specialist in Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation. She has been repeatedly recognized as an Expert in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation by Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench and Supreme Court of British Columbia, testifying on behalf of plaintiff and defence. She holds the designation of certified medical examiner for Alberta Insurance Superintendent.
Dr. Apel recently retired from the decades- long clinical position of an assistant clinical professor at the Department of Clinical Neurosciences at the University of Calgary and long-standing membership in the Canadian Society of Clinical Neurophysiologists. Dr. Apel has been decades-long member in the Canadian and American Pain Societies.
Dr. Apel is
Dr. Apel’s areas of special interest include chronic soft tissue and mechanical pain, musculoskeletal and neuro-rehabilitation, forensic and disability assessments