Prof. Zeynep Güven, MD

Prof. Zeynep Güven, MD is a Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation specialist practising at Acibadem Altunizade Hospital in İstanbul, Türkiye. With more than 34 years in medicine, her clinical work covers chronic and musculoskeletal pain, bone health conditions such as osteoporosis and osteopenia, inflammatory and degenerative joint disease, and rehabilitation after orthopedic surgery.

Dr. Güven graduated from Istanbul University Cerrahpasa Faculty of Medicine in 1985 and completed her specialization in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at Marmara University Faculty of Medicine in 1992. In the same year she began working at the Marmara University Faculty of Medicine Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. She joined Acibadem Health Group in 2006 and obtained the Medical Specialization Board in Algology in 2011. She is a member of the Turkish Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Association, the Internetional Society of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, the Osteoporosis Association of Turkey, the Clinical Neurophysiology EEG-EMG Society, the Shoulder and Upper Extremity Surgery Society, the Turkish Orthopedics and Traumatology Association, the FTR Specialist Physicians Association and the Turkish Physicians Friendship and Solidarity Association. Her publications include the edited volume Joint Atroplasties and Rehabilitation (2001) and articles on the use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs in osteoarthritis, risk factors in osteoporotic men, depression in osteoporotic and osteopenic patients, high-voltage galvanic stimulation in myofascial pain syndrome, quality of life in fibromyalgia syndrome and rheumatoid arthritis, hypermobility in women with fibromyalgia syndrome, rehabilitation after anterior acromioplasty, and lumbopelvic stabilization exercise training in chronic mechanical low back pain.

Clinical focus

A central part of Dr. Güven’s practice is the assessment and management of chronic pain and musculoskeletal pain, including myofascial pain syndrome, fibromyalgia syndrome and chronic mechanical low back pain. Her approach to low back pain includes lumbopelvic stabilization exercise training, and she has studied high-voltage galvanic stimulation as a physical therapy modality in myofascial pain syndrome. She also follows patients with osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis, with attention to joint function, pain control and daily activity.

Bone health is another area of her work: she evaluates and manages osteoporosis and osteopenia, conditions on which she has also published. In the rehabilitation field, Dr. Güven works with patients after joint replacement (post-arthroplasty rehabilitation) and after shoulder surgery, in particular rehabilitation following anterior acromioplasty. Treatment plans are individualized after clinical examination and review of imaging, and may combine exercise-based rehabilitation with physical therapy modalities and medication where appropriate.

How Dr. Güven works with international patients

Dr. Güven consults in Turkish and English, and interpreters can be arranged for patients who speak other languages. Before a visit, the Acibadem international patient team coordinates the collection of prior reports and imaging, such as MRI, CT, X-ray or ultrasound reports, laboratory results, operative notes and discharge summaries, and arranges appointments and the hospital visit. A first consultation typically covers the patient’s history and symptoms, a review of existing imaging and previous treatments, a clinical examination and a discussion of the options. Video consultation is available for international patients who wish to speak with Dr. Güven before travelling.