Category: Research
The wonders of the Wellcome Archive
There are many wondrous things to be found at the Wellcome Library in London (link). Some years ago I spend a very happy month at the Wellcome researching the archives of the CSP for my doctorate, and a few days ago I stumbled across a file of photos I’d taken …
A royal history of animal physiotherapy
‘’As humans respond so rapidly to this form of treatment for their injuries, why isn’t it used on horses for theirs?’’ Lord Luis Mountbatten to Sir Charles Strong (1939) Many will know of Lord Luis Mountbatten, a great british sailor, a notable diplomat, and the last Viceroy of India. Many …
History of the Wheelchair
The 1st of March is International Wheelchair Day so we are getting ready for the celebrations by having a look back at the history of the wheelchair. While both chairs and wheels have been around of thousands of years, the Ancient Greeks and the Chinese were the first to combine …
François Humbert – a pioneer of 19th century orthopaedics
Last week I had a series of email conversations with Axelle Mokry (www.senselab.ch), a Swiss physiotherapist who has for some time now been part of an association looking to research the work of French doctor François Humbert, who created the first orthopedic centre of France in 1817. Unlike many academics …
Hilda Harris – an Australian pioneer
Hilda Harris commenced as a first-year student at the University of Sydney in 1916. She joined fifty-one students in that year. During the First World War the then Australasian Massage Association, (the association that later and appropriately changed its name to the Australian Physiotherapy Association), with the Universities of Melbourne, …
The Primary Contact Physiotherapist
In 1976 the Australian Journal of Physiotherapy published an article by Prue Galley titled ‘Patient referral and the physiotherapist’. This article was a synthesis of the debates and arguments about whether Australian physiotherapists were ready to act as primary contact professionals. Galley asked: Have we as physiotherapists, the knowledge, the …
Símbolos da Fisioterapia: Os antigos e o novo.
Symbols of Physiotherapy: The old and the new. A história da Fisioterapia também é representada por meio de símbolos. Os símbolos, pela sua natureza, evocam num determinado contexto algo abstrato ou distante. No caso da Fisioterapia brasileira vários símbolos foram utilizados, sofrendo modificações ao longo do tempo, evoluindo sempre, até …
Ministering angels
One of the most interesting new areas of research in the history of physiotherapy surrounds the work done by masseuses during World War I. Some of the most studied artefacts from the time are the Bliss Series of postcards held at the Wellcome Library in London. These postcards tell us some interesting …
Upstanding
Beth Linker’s work should be required reading for physiotherapists. Her latest project – a book titled Slouch: The Forgotten History of America’s Poor Posture Epidemic (due for publication in 2020) traces the history of America’s fascination with posture and how upright standing came to mean so much to health reformers, including physical …
The masculine beginnings of Women’s Health
In the most female world of women’s health physiotherapy (female pelvic health problems treated by female practitioners of a female dominated profession) it comes as a significant surprise to learn that it may have all started with a male Swedish Army Major in the middle of the nineteenth century. Historian, Anders Ottosson, …