Tag: gymnastics

Girls of the Sunlight League

The Sunlight League

Physiotherapist Cora Wilding founded the Sunlight League in New Zealand, was instrumental in establishing the Youth Hostel Association and was one of the most passionate advocates for the physical culture movement. The Physical Culture Movement was a health and fitness movement that began in Europe during the 19th century, spreading

A physician advocates exercise for his inert, adipose patient

De Arte Gymanstica – The Art of Exercise Prescription

Although books dating back to ancient Chinese, Indian, Arabic, Greek and Roman civilisations contained numerous accounts of physical therapies (Galen reports that Roman emperor Julius Caesar used electric fish to treat neuralgia, for instance), De Arte Gymnastica may be the first book dedicated to the specific prescription of those physical

Exercise in the 16th Century

In De Arte Gymnastica, written in 1569, Hieronymus Mercurialis describes six exercise principles: Each exercise should preserve the existing health state Exercises should be suited to each part of the body All healthy people should exercise regularly Sick people should not be given exercises that might exacerbate existing conditions Special

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,

Who named the profession?

The history of the modern physiotherapy profession may arguably be traced back to 1813 when Swede, Per Henrik Ling founded the Royal Central Institute of Gymnastics (RCIG) in Stockholm (Ottosson, 2015). The name used by the graduates of the three year training program was ‘Sjukgymnastik’ (sick – exercise) and until very recently

Translate »