Traumatic brain injury (TBI) causes two injury types: primary and secondary. In infants and young children, nonaccidental TBI is an important etiology of brain injury and is commonly a repetitive insult. TBI is by far the most common cause of acquired brain injury (ABI) in children and is the most common cause of death in cases of childhood injury. In 2009, the Pediatric Emergency Care Applied Research Network (PECARN) issued validated prediction rules to identify children at very low risk of clinically important TBI, which is defined as TBI requiring neurosurgical intervention or leading to death. The range of outcomes in pediatric TBI is very broad, from full recovery to severe physical and/or intellectual disabilities. Children and adolescents who have suffered a TBI are at increased risk of social dysfunction. Studies show that these patients can have poor self-esteem, loneliness, maladjustment, reduced emotional control, and aggressive or antisocial behavior.

Electrodiagnostic medicine (EDX) should be considered an extension of a comprehensive patient history and physical examination. Combining data found on nerve conduction studies and needle electromyography, the pathophysiology of a peripheral nerve disease process can be further defined to illustrate location, duration, severity, and prognosis. It can function as a valuable aid in patient management, serving as an extension of the clinical exam, but not a substitute. This chapter focuses on board-related topics about EDX medicine as well as neuromuscular disorders and their associated electrophysiologic changes. It discusses basic peripheral nervous system anatomy followed by the pathophysiology, clinical instrumentation, nerve conduction studies and somatosensory evoked potentials. Then it describes basic needle EMG, radiculopathy, plexopathies, upper limb mononeuropathies, lower limb mononeuropathy, peripheral neuropathies, neuromuscular junction disorders, myopathies, motor neuron disease and differential diagnosis of weakness.

This chapter reviews various topics within the field of pediatric rehabilitation medicine that may be helpful when studying for the PM&R boards. It is broken down into different sections to encompass childhood development, growth, and the major childhood disabilities encountered in the field of rehabilitation medicine. The chapter discusses genetics and chromosomal abnormalities; development and growth; pediatric limb deficiencies; diseases of the bones and joints; connective tissue and joint disease; pediatric burns; pediatric cancers; pediatric traumatic brain injury; cerebral palsy; spina bifida (myelodysplasia) and neuromuscular diseases in children.