Tag: physiotherapy

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

Giving back to her country: Canadian-Jamaican physio collaboration

By Gillian Woodford, The McGill Reporter; submitted by Sarah C. Marshall (with permission) Three decades after graduating from McGill, Dorothy Thomas Edding helped found Jamaica’s first and only university-based School of Physical Therapy, allowing aspiring physiotherapists to study and work closer to home. Back in the late 1950s a bright

The End of a Physiotherapy School

Abandoned architectural, infrastructural or technological artifacts of the past are scattered all around the world, reminding us that nothing built by (wo)man can ever stand the test of time on its own. The reasons behind the abandonment of such places vary, and for a long time in most cases they

RPA Medical Gymnastics Department, 1907

A history of physiotherapy at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney, Australia

In 1889 lectures and exams on the subject of ‘the massage battery’ were given to trainee third year nurses, who initially carried out practical work in massage and electricity in the Royal Prince Alfred (RPA) wards and outpatients department. These practices reflected the overseas work of Swedish practitioner Per Henrik

Mr Frederick Teepoo Hall teaching massage of the back

How an Anglo-Indian Man Made Australian Physiotherapy Great

Australia was the first country in the world to teach and examine all aspects of physiotherapy: exercise, massage and manipulation, and electrotherapy, in programmes aligned with universities. Early physiotherapists were not nurses, and men were as numerous as women. ‘Massage’ did not fairly describe the practitioners’ real knowledge and skills,

2020: The Centenary of Physiotherapy in Canada

Canadian physiotherapists are celebrating the centenary of the profession in Canada, this year: 2020! March 24, 2020 marks the precise 100th anniversary and will include: a kick-off of 100 days of giveaways for CPA members, one way of demonstrating the value of being a member of the professional association. Also

Australian Physios Preserving their Past

The following edited excerpts are from the article titled “Preserving our Past: Why physio history matters”.  It was published in the Australian Physiotherapy Association’s (APA) InMotion Magazine on 3 February 2020 and describes the current status of physiotherapy history activities throughout Australia.  The full article can be accessed here. Throughout

A history of Spanish physiotherapy

In 2011the Spanish physiotherapy journal Cuestiones de Fisioterapia ran a special issue on the history of physiotherapy in Spain (link to full pdf of the journal). Very generously, the authors included English translations of many of the abstracts. Thanks to Glenn also for translating a version of the editorial through Google

Ten of History's Greatest Physios

History’s Greatest Physios Announced

On the 125th anniversary year of the commencement of the Society of Trained Masseuses in the United Kingdom, one of the seminal moments in the history of the profession, the International Physiotherapy History Association (IPHA) called for nominations from the global physiotherapy and physical therapy community to help determine History’s

Translate »