Category: Editorial
Her story
In the late 19th century, the medical world was turbulent, competitive, and surprisingly entrepreneurial. Among the more transformative developments was the rise of mechanical medicine—manual techniques, movement therapies, and massage—that challenged the conventional drug-based treatments (pharmacology) of so-called orthodox or regular medicine. While attention has been paid to the professionalisation …
Stolen Statue
In 1812, the Swedish government approved Pehr Henrik Ling’s application to teach gymnastics in Stockholm and receive a salary and premises through state assistance. Ling had developed a comprehensive system that included pedagogical (physical education), aesthetic (dance), military (fencing) and medical (physiotherapy) gymnastics; with the purpose of raising the physical …
Royal Central Institute for Gymnastics
In the early 1800s as the Napoleonic Wars were reshaping the European map. Sweden had Finland and its’ eastern provinces ceded to Russia, and to the west the Swedish-Norwegian union occurred. It was shock to the previously dominant nation. The Swedish government was in chaos and there was a growing …
Molly Levy – Mother of South African Physiotherapy
Integrity, exactitude, knowledge and wisdom, are appropriate adjectives for Molly Levy, foremost among the women who might qualify for the title “Mother of South African Physiotherapy” Like many South Africans in the early years of the profession, Kate Molly Levy (nee Limerick) travelled overseas to qualify – in her case, …
The Value of Physical Treatment
The following Letter to the Editor, published in The Lancet in 1918 provides an extraordinary review of the growth of physiotherapy from the First World War. SIR,—The Prime Minister in his speech on Nov. 16th, in placing the case for the Coalition at the Central Hall, Westminster, said: ” The …
Paralympic History
On the eve of the Paralympics Games Paris 2024 where more than 4,000 athletes, representing 169 nations, will compete over twelve days for 549 medals across 22 events it is instructing to consider its humble beginnings. At a hospital for war veterans in Stoke Mandeville, located 60 kilometres north of …
Physiotherapy First
The phrase, “Physiotherapy First” could be interpreted as a call-to-action to prioritize physical treatments over pharmacotherapy and surgery. Use of the phrase is likely presumed to reflect the modern physiotherapy profession’s progression into primary care, the growing physiotherapy research base of high value care, and the concomitant confidence accompanying them. …
A Personal History of Dry Needling
In 1992 when I was studying a post-graduate manual therapy course at Curtin University, Perth, the educational emphasis was primarily on joints and neural tissue, with an early smattering of pain science. Whilst assessing a patient during one clinical session, no tests related to any of the education provided were …
Researching the History of Physiotherapy in Saxony (Germany).
(Translated by Sandra Schiller) When I started research on the history of physiotherapy in Saxony for a talk I had been invited to give following German Reunification in 1990, I asked the state schools for physiotherapy in Leipzig, Zwickau and Dresden for any memorabilia they might have. One of the …
Physical Therapy in Pakistan:
50-Years to Recognition
In Pakistan the physical therapy profession underwent a gradual development, taking around 50 years to reach its current level of education and recognition. The initial steps occurred in 1956 at Jinnah Postgraduate Medical College, through a partnership between the Ministry of Health (MOH) and the World Health Organization (WHO), to …