The Unit's staff consists of military and civilian physiotherapists and rehabilitation instructors - specially trained Army Physical Training Instructors, who are supported by a number of administrative staff.
The Armed Forces' Joint Medical Command chief Major General Mike von Bertele officially opened the unit with Regional Army Primary Healthcare Service Director Colonel Brian Eadon.
Unveiling a plaque, Major General von Bertele said that the aim of the unit was to ensure that as many personnel as possible were fit enough to join their colleagues on operational deployment:
"We do more than just physio in these Units. The teams work hard here to get our personnel back up to a level of fitness that will enable them to do the job they so want to do. None of them wants to be left behind when colleagues are deploying to operational theatres abroad."
Three week residential courses of intensive treatment, exercise, physiotherapy and physiological lectures are held at Lichfield's Whittington Barracks, which is to be home in due course to the Joint Medical Command itself.
Injured personnel based in Wales and the West Midlands previously had to travel considerable distances for treatment at sites elsewhere in the country.
Lichfield-based Regional Rehabilitation Unit officer commanding Major Helen Buchanan said: "This is excellent news for all concerned. These personnel are closer to their military units and their families while on a course here, and they are able to concentrate on getting themselves back to full fitness for the three weeks that they are here rather than being distracted by other duties if back at base."
The operational tempo of recent years - particularly in Iraq and Afghanistan - has led to military personnel with more serious injuries now attending the primary Armed Forces rehabilitation unit at Headley Court, Surrey, after surgery at Birmingham's Selly Oak Hospital and those with lesser injuries attending the Regional Rehabilitation Units.
Sergeant Darren Hicklin of Stafford-based 22 Signal Regiment who is being treated for a leg injury at Lichfield said:
"I am having in one concentrated period what it would take several months to achieve if I was trying to regain my fitness while with my unit. I've nothing but praise for the team here - it's a fantastic place."
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