Tag: rehabilitation
The Other McKenzie
Within the physiotherapy profession the name McKenzie resonates with greatness. New Zealand musculoskeletal physiotherapist Robin McKenzie revolutionised the worldwide treatment of low back pain in the 1980s and his work continues today through the McKenzie Institute International. However there is another, less well known McKenzie, whose contribution to the profession of …
Physical Therapy’s Oscar Winning Film
On the 75th anniversary of its production we look back at the profession’s 1949 Oscar winning film. ‘Toward Independence’ is a 1948 American short documentary film about the rehabilitation of military veterans with spinal cord injuries. In 1949, it won an Oscar for Documentary Short Subject at the 21st Academy …
Britain’s Napoleonic Sailors and the Luxury of Physiotherapy
The physical therapies of massage, exercise, heat/ice, electricity, light, etc., have existed for thousands of years across all civilisations, but it was not until the 20th century that physiotherapy emerged as a significant and unique profession. In his latest article (available in Open Access) physiotherapy writer and researcher David Nicholls …
A Nobel Prize for Physiotherapy?
The following story is a summary of an article by Nils Hanson and Anders Ottosson, titled ‘Nobel Prize for Physical Therapy? Rise, Fall, and Revival of Medical-Mechanical Institutes’. In his will of 1895, the Swedish innovator Alfred Nobel stipulated that of five yearly prizes, one should go to the person, …
A Brief History of Physiotherapy in The Netherlands
Rise of Remedial Gymnastics and Massage in the 19th Century Physiotherapy, as it is now known, in the Netherlands has its origins in the first half of the 19th century. The forerunners were healing gymnasts and masseurs who came from Sweden and Germany. Initially separate professions with separate training, they …
PNF in Short
Initially termed ‘proprioceptive facilitation’ by Dr Herman Kabat in the early 1940’s, physical therapist Dorothy Voss added the word ‘neuromuscular’ to give us the now familiar Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation (PNF). Kabat’s conceptual framework for PNF came from his experience as a neurophysiologist and physician, and the works of Sister Elizabeth …
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 …
Mobilising a workforce
On Friday this week (20thNovember 2020), the physiotherapy staff in the acute London NHS Trust where I work, along with other professional groups in the organisation, received a request asking for volunteers to administer Covid-19 vaccinations to the Trust’s workforce. Physiotherapists in the UK (along with other groups of healthcare …
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 …
Analysis of Physiotherapy through Art History
We are well accustomed to photographs of World War I physiotherapy wards. Busy rooms, filled with rehabilitating soldiers offer a glimpse into a past world and the beginnings of a new profession. In contrast, a painting of the very same scene offers far greater insight, as we get to see what …