Category: Research
The ways we lose our culture
A few years ago, I was going through some old papers and came across a fragile yellowed newspaper cutting celebrating the refurbished physiotherapy school in Dunedin, New Zealand. The broadsheet report had some lovely pictures of the wooden lecture theatre and a handful of women students in uniform studiously taking …
Request for help: The Historical Genesis of Manual Therapy
This post comes from Cameron MacDonald, IPHA Exec member, who trained originally in Australia and has been a practicing clinician and researcher in the USA. Cameron is currently working on a Ph.D. provisionally titled: Identifying the basis of manual therapy for the physiotherapy, chiropractic, medical and osteopathic professions: Is there …
Fysiotherapie in perspectief, 50 jaar verleden – heden
Physiotherapy in Perspective, 50 years past – present The Stichting Gescheidenis Fysiotherapie (SGF) (History of Physiotherapy Foundation) of the Netherlands, through 2018 to 2021 published a series of short historical articles in the journal PhysioPraxis. The series was titled “Physiotherapy in Perspective, 50 years past – present”. With great thanks …
Introduction of General Management into the UK NHS – CSP Response
The introduction of General Management into the National Health Service (NHS) in the United Kingdom (UK) which commenced in 1983/1984 was one of the most extensive and radical sets of changes to have taken place in the Service during its 73-year history. Arguably, the Griffiths recommendations which brought general management …
Significant Landmarks in UK Physiotherapy Through Official Memorobilia
Historical Notes and Personal Reminiscences 1994 was a significant date in the history of physiotherapy in the British Isles; it was the celebration of the Centenary of the founding of the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy (CSP). It was during the summer of 1894 that four nurses and midwives, Lucy Robinson, …
Fair Competition in the Paralympics
The history of disabled people participating in sport is closely allied with modern thoughts and techniques of rehabilitation and recovery from injury. In the 1940’s one of the earliest pioneers of disabled sports, Sir Ludwig Guttmann, observed that the enjoyment and motivation of competition could drive much better levels of …
Locating Objects from Physiotherapy History
There are different ways to learn about (physiotherapy) history as a wide variety of sources answer questions about the past. Historians differentiate between primary sources, i.e. sources that have survived from the past, and secondary sources, i.e. accounts of the past that are written at a later period of time. …
History of Physiotherapy Uniforms in Canada
We know that in our world today, uniforms are ubiquitous and continue to define who we are and where we work. As examples, uniforms in the military stemming back to Napoleon Bonaparte, uniforms of the Church (think about the Pope’s regalia and the red robes of his cardinals), Police and …
Hijamat- the ancient therapy of cupping
While investigating data for our history project on the development of the profession of physiotherapy in the United Arab Emirates, I was reminded of the practice of cupping (hijamat) and have noted its continuing access as a physical therapy in this part of the world. Every year the Dubai Health …
The first ever Special Issue on the History of Physiotherapy now in print
Nearly three years ago now, we put out a call for people interested in compiling a special issue on the history of physiotherapy for the journal Physiotherapy Theory & Practice, and I’m delighted to say that the papers are now appearing online. There are seven full papers and one Editorial in …