Category: Book
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, …
King Kellgren: The Father of Manual Therapy
In a newly published book, titled The Lost Origins of Osteopathy and Chiropractic in European Mechanical Medicine and Physical Education, C. 1800-1950 author Anders Ottosson argues that osteopathy, chiropractic, orthopaedic medicine and orthopaedic manual physical therapy all have a common origin – early Swedish physiotherapy. Whilst manual therapy is as …
Swedish Gymnastics at the Olympic Games
The Swedish gymnastics of Pehr Henrik Ling consisted of four branches: military (fencing), medical (physiotherapy), pedagogical (physical education) and aesthetic (dance). For the latter two, the system emphasised floor exercises along with “Swedish bars” (attached to a wall), balance beam, vaulting box and some hand-held apparatus. The movements were generally …
‘Essays on Massage History 1750 – 1950’: Book Review
As an adjunct health service or a junior partner to medicine, massage has oft lacked respect. So much so, that even its own history has remained poorly understood. Massage needed someone to come along to provide intellectual rigour to its story, and it came in an unlikely form – a …
America’s Slouching Epidemic
In her recently published book “Slouch: Posture Panic in Modern America” Beth Linker argues that at the onset of the twentieth century the United States became gripped by a poor-posture epidemic: a widespread social contagion of slumping that could have deleterious effects upon individual health, and the body politic. Posture …
Book of Bodily Exercise
The work, “Book of Bodily Exercise”, written by Cristóbal Méndez in 1553, is significant to understand the education of the first physicians who came to México from Europe in the sixteenth century. Méndez was born in 1500-1501 in Spain, he studied Medicine at Salamanca and in 1528 travelled to Mexico. He was …
Asthma and Your Child
The book Asthma and Your Child was first published in 1963 by New Zealand respiratory physiotherapist Bernice “Bunny” Thompson. It focused on the need for well-targeted breathing and physical exercises in the management of children’s asthma. The book’s popularity continued through to subsequent editions, despite the introduction of metered dose …
Three recent books on the history of the physical therapies
In the history of physiotherapy, there’s been precious little work on the cultural history of the physical therapies themselves. But over the last few months, a few pieces of popular science writing have tackled subjects that are close to our hearts. Bill Hayes’ book Sweat: A history of exercise is …
The next big thing in physiotherapy history
We had another great biannual meeting of the whole IPHA membership yesterday. Thanks to everyone who took part. As well as reviewing the work of the group over the last six months – especially progress on our fabulous 100 Objects campaign – we talked about getting started on our next …
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 …