The Korean Academy of Rehabilitation Medicine (KARM) was formally founded at its first general meeting held on March 30, 1972. About 80 members gathered together to celebrate the foundation of KARM, held a seminar on rehabilitation medicine and appointed Shin Pil-Su the first chairman of KARM and Ahn Young-Pal the vice chairman.
After the professional certification system was established in the field of rehabilitation medicine on July 22, 1982, the group of rehabilitation medicine specialists has grown from an initial base of just 22 in 1983 to a current base of 896 in 2005. Amid growing members, KARM expanded its operations by opening branch offices in Busan and Daegu in North Gyongsang Province in March 1991 and other provinces afterward.
KARM also stepped up its activities by launching the Korean Society of Brain-Neurorehabilitation, the Society of Musculoskeletal Medicine and the Korean Society of Pediatric Rehabilitation Medicine. And it played a leading role in founding and managing the Korean Association of EMG вл Electrodiagnostic Medicine, the Korean Spinal Cord Society, the Korean Association of Pain Medicine, the Korean Society of Golf-Medicine, the Korean Society of Sports Medicine and the Korean FES Society.
Since the first academic conference held in May 3, 1973, KARM has held its annual convention in spring for the first seven years and in autumn until 1986. Now it holds its annual symposium in spring in a different city each year to address more than one topic. The 2005 convention included 89 oral presentations, 41 oral poster presentations and 278 poster presentations. Training for members is separately provided in June every year.
The Journal of Korean Academy of Rehabilitation Medicine is now published bi-monthly to meet its members' growing needs for publication of their articles. It was published twice a year in June and December from 1977 to 1991 and four times a year until 1996. A total of 714 articles were introduced through the journal in 2000, compared with 50 articles in 1990.
In a move to expand the scope of activities and contribution to the rehabilitation of disabled people, KARM forged international linkages and participated in the 2nd annual general meeting of the International Rehabilitation Medicine Society as a regular member. KARM has increased its cooperation and exchange of information with its international peers by attending the 7th International Physical Therapy Symposium held in Brazil in 1976 and a series of conventions held by American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation in 1990s. In the International Rehabilitation Medicine Conference held in August 1997 in Japan, KARM members presented 25 research findings. In 2001, KARM won the right to hold the International Society of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine world congress in Seoul in 2007. In 2002, it successfully completed the Korea-Japan Rehabilitation Medicine Conference in Gyeongju.
