South Africa’s First Professor of Physiotherapy
On the 1st of January 1973, Jean Blair was appointed Associate Professor by the Council of the University of the …
Executive Half Year Report – June 2026
The Executive Committee met on three occasions by Zoom teleconference in the first half of 2026. The current Executive Committee membership consists of Glenn Ruscoe, Chair (Australia) Sandra Schiller (Germany) Magda Fourie (South Africa) Cameron MacDonald (USA) Wajida Perveen (Pakistan) Snjezana Schuster (Croatia) Ximena Suárez Bonilla (Mexico/Spain) Esther-Mary D’Arcy (Ireland) …
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Dutch Physiotherapy History Foundation Releases Magazine
The Dutch History of Physiotherapy Foundation (SGF) has just released the first edition of their new SGF Magazine – available here. Physiotherapy has a rich history, and that history is constantly evolving. With this very first issue of the Stichting Geschiedenis Fysiotherapie Magazine, the SGF seek to bring that history …
The Lingiad
An international gymnastics display, with 7,399 participants from twelve countries, was held in Stockholm in 1939 to commemorate the centenary of the death of Per Henrik Ling (1776–1839), the founder of Ling gymnastics (Meckbach & Lundquist Wanneberg, 2011). The ‘Lingiad’ enabled the participants to experience a celebration comparable to the …
The Lumbar Shift Correction
Understanding how manual therapy techniques evolve over time deepens our grasp of clinical reasoning and safe application. Lumbar shift correction, also called lateral shift correction or “pig shift” in informal clinical slang (because the position replicates that when carrying a pig on the hip) is a prime example. It’s not …
Prince of Physiotherapy
Arvid Kellgren was born in 1856, son of Captain Jonas Henrik Kellgren and younger brother of Henrik Kellgren – the ‘father of manual therapy’ (Ottosson, 2026). After graduating from high school in the rural town of Skara, Sweden in 1876, Arvid followed in his older brother’s footsteps and attended the Royal …
Physical Technique: Witness Seminar
Physical technique as a treatment method in physiotherapy: from core component to peripheral phenomenon. Report of the first witness seminar on physiotherapy. Original article provided in Dutch. Translated by Claude.ai Authors: Heleen Beckerman, chair of the witness seminar on Physical Technique; Anton de Wijer, initiator and organiser of the witness …
Best-Known Man in Adelaide
On the 17th January 1890, 21-year-old Hugo Leschen of Adelaide, South Australia was travelling to Stockport on the North train. Just as the steam engine pulled into the station a commotion broke out in a nearby compartment. Leschen could smell oil and on putting his head out the window noticed …
Lessons on Massage
While undertaking research of original documents and books at the Wellcome Collection in London a few months ago I came across a first edition of the famous book by Margaret Dora Palmer titled ‘Lessons on Massage’, published in 1901. In the opening lines of the book’s preface Palmer (1901) says, …
The Fall of Singapore
Following the First World War, Australia concluded that Japan’s expansionist ambitions in the Pacific posed the greatest threat to its national security. Britain was equally determined to protect its Asian territories — India, Burma, Malaya and Hong Kong — from Japanese encroachment. The Singapore Strategy In 1919 Singapore, strategically positioned …
How US Army Physical Therapy Pioneered Direct Access
The untold story of how war, necessity, and innovation transformed physiotherapy forever. When today’s US physical therapists evaluate a patient without a referral, few realise that the roots of this autonomy stretch back to the battlefields of the 20th century. Long before “direct access” became a catchphrase for professional independence, …