Field of work

Neurological disorders are disorders that can affect the central nervous system (brain and spinal cord), the peripheral nervous system, or the autonomic nervous system.

Major conditions include:

• behavioral/cognitive syndromes
• headache disorders such as migraine, cluster headache and tension headache
• epilepsy
• traumatic brain injury
• neurodegenerative disorders, including Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, Huntington's disease, and Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Lou Gehrig's disease).
• cerebrovascular disease, such as transient ischemic attack and stroke.
• sleep disorders
• cerebral palsy
• infections of the brain (encephalitis), brain meninges (meningitis), spinal cord (myelitis)
• infections of the peripheral nervous system
• neoplasms tumors of the brain and its meninges (brain tumors), spinal cord tumors, tumors of the peripheral nerves (neuroma)
• movement disorders such as Parkinson's disease, Huntington's disease, hemiballismus, tic disorder, and Gilles de la Tourette syndrome
• demyelinating diseases of the central nervous system, such as multiple sclerosis, and of the peripheral nervous system, such as Guillain-Barré syndrome and chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP)
• spinal cord disorders tumors, infections, trauma, malformations (e.g., myelocele, meningomyelocele, tethered cord)
• disorders of peripheral nerves, muscle (myopathy) and neuromuscular junctions
• exciting injuries to the brain, spinal cord and peripheral nerves
• altered mental higher status, encephalopathy, stupor and coma
• speech and language disorders
• functional symptoms, having no apparent physiological cause

Educational requirements

A neurologist's educational background and medical training varies with the country of training. In the United States and Canada, neurologists are physicians who have completed postgraduate training in neurology after graduation from medical school.

Neurologists complete, on average, 12 years of postsecondary education and clinical training. This training includes obtaining a four-year undergraduate degree, a medical degree, which is an additional four years, and then completing a four-year residency in neurology. The four-year residency consists of one year of internal medicine training followed by three years of training in neurology.

Many neurologists also have additional subspecialty training (fellowships) after completing their residency in one area of neurology such as stroke, interventional neurology, epilepsy, neuromuscular, sleep medicine, pain management, neuroimmunology, clinical neurophysiology, or movement disorders.