Seventy Years of Studenthood
Studying physiotherapy was as beautiful as it was difficult. Every physiotherapist was at some point a student; a period of …
VGH Physiotherapy Department, Military Annex, 1917. Flickr
Interview with Patricia Grohne
Last week I spoke with Patricia Grohne about some of the work she has been doing with her colleagues to record and celebrate the history of physiotherapy in British Colombia, Canada. As well as this brief audio interview, Patricia has provided a brief ‘Story of the Physiotherapy History of British …
Physiotherapy history at WCPT: Pictures and Stories
The International Physiotherapy History Association has been running for more than a year now, and we have had an executive committee in place since October, so we are nearly a year old as a formal organisation. We have a wonderful new website (now available in more than 20 languages) which …
Remembering Brian Davey
We heard last week of the recent death of Brian Davey. I had the good fortune to interview Brian as part of the centenary celebrations for New Zealand physiotherapists in 2013, and it was only here that I got to understand the full breadth of his work and his service …
Interview with Joan McMeeken
Last week I spoke with Professor Joan McMeeken about her recent book Science in Our Hands: Physiotherapy at the University of Melbourne, 1895–2010. Joan is the Foundation Professor and was Foundation Head of the School of Physiotherapy and Associate Dean Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences at the University of …
A brief history of Brazil’s Federal Council of Physical Therapy and Occupational Therapy (English & Portuguese)
The aspiration in forming the Council was to create a federal entity that would act as ethical and social regulator of the profession, whose advent resulted from the work of the Brazilian Association of Physical Therapists together with local associations and state leaderships. Initially linked to the Ministry of Labor …
The history of work
Work
Physiotherapy is inextricably linked to work; to returning people back to productive labour or meaningful activities. As an important cog in the health services of many countries around the world, physical therapies have proven a powerful and effective way to rehabilitate people who have been ill and injured and maintain their …
Australia’s polio scourge
The recent movie Breathe, the inspirational true story of Robin Cavendish’s battle with paralytic poliomyelitis, is a reminder of a disease that is almost forgotten, except by those whose lives were and remain directly affected. In recent years adults who suffered minor illnesses or had mild muscle weakness during the …
Quarterly IPHA Meeting Notice
The quarterly open meeting of the International Physiotherapy History Association will take place on-line at 7am (Auckland time) on Tuesday 14th August. Please check your local times. We’ve been very busy since our last meeting, so will be able to update you on the website and social media activity, our …
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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 …
Physiotherapy history as a tool to identify the ‘soul’ of the profession
“Critique needs friction or a kind of dialogue. Existing reality must be confronted with strangeness and the historically different can assume the function of this counterpart, meaning present and past must continuously be set in relation to each other”. This quote comes from a recent paper by Thomas Foth, Jette Lange and …