The Glass Room
Physiotherapy gymnasiums are rarely located within architectural splendour but for a short period in communist Czechoslovakia, a hospital physiotherapy department was located in one of the great buildings of European modernism. UNESCO World Heritage Listed …
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 …
Great Leaders Create More Leaders
Amongst the many organisations in the history of the world’s physiotherapy profession, none have contributed to the profession so profoundly as the United Kingdom’s Chartered Society of Physiotherapy (CSP). Founded in 1894 as the Society …
The Unique Case of Doctors becoming Physiotherapists
The health workforce is hierarchical and movement across professions is almost always upwards as individuals seek higher reward, recompense and status. Only rarely is there is movement downward. This story tells of a unique occurrence …
International Man of Action
A man, wearing dark glasses, sits front and centre of the audience of the inaugural meeting of the World Confederation for Physical Therapy, held on 8th September 1951 in Copenhagen, Denmark. He sits upright, leaning …
The History of Physiotherapy in Bosnia and Herzegovina
The following is from an article titled, The History of Physiotherapy in Bosnia and Herzegovina by Mirjana Dujmović and Jasmin Avdovićwritten; published in Fizioterapija Macedonica Journal. It was translated into English by Google Translate and …
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 …
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 …
When Giants Collide: The Birth of Manipulative Physiotherapy
The following article is based on an article titled “History of IFOMT” by David W Lamb, Freddy M Kaltenborn and Stanley V Paris. The three authors were pioneering leaders in their field and drivers of …
The Bonesetters of Brittany
In the Brittany (Western France) of yesteryear, there was a dearth of medical doctors practicing in the rural areas and when one could be found, his professional services were rarely affordable. Traditional healing treatments and …