Today, the biography of Dr Johan Mezger was presented at the Amstel Hotel, Amsterdam, by author Prof Dr Peter Jan Margry.
The therapeutic gymnast and physician Mezger not only made a significant contribution to therapeutic gymnastics and later physiotherapy, but also reached the European peak with his exceptional treatment results. For instance, he treated many queens and empresses, including at the Amstel Hotel, pictured below.
For this biography, Prof Margry travelled throughout Europe to get close to the original sources. This has resulted in an impressive book, titled Friction: Johan Mezger, personal physician to the European elite.
Johan Mezger (1838-1909), the son of an Amsterdam butcher, had an improbable career. As a gymnastics teacher, he devised a new cure for injuries among his students: friction, or massage. With his exceptional healings, this medical pioneer rose to the European elite and treated queens and empresses, including Sisi. He managed to help them with massages—for the first time on the naked body—while simultaneously acting as a psychologist and sexologist in successively Amsterdam and Bonn, Wiesbaden, Paris, and Domburg.The first copy of the book, about a remarkable pioneer in the history of the physiotherapy profession, was received by Dr Lodi Hennink, chairman of the KNGF Royal Dutch Society for Physiotherapy. The book is available online here.The story is built around the driven and visionary Mezger, surrounded by his select group of extravagant patients, with ample attention paid to their ailments and inner turmoil. The miraculous thumbs of ‘the pincher’ were praised and believed in to the extreme. Mezger failed to avoid pride and conflict. The medical vision he received for suffering humanity at the end of his career led to an Icaric fall.
Friction is written from a biographical and cultural-historical perspective and reads like an intimate and exciting social history of the nineteenth century.
Furthermore, many descendants of Mezger who have also entered the profession were present at the well-attended gathering, including the family of Johan Mezger: physiotherapists Susanne Mezger, Robert Molkenboer, and exercise therapist Lieke Mezger. A family history of which to be proud.Afterwards, there was an opportunity to visit Dr Mezger’s former home, located near the Amstel Hotel.
