Category: People
Johann Mezger and the Modern Science of Massage
Modern massage is forever connected with two men: Pehr Henrik Ling and Johann Georg Mezger. Whilst Ling is credited as the founder of the Swedish system of exercise, which included massage, it was only ever a relatively minor part of his gymnastic regime. The modern scientific development of massage began …
The Indefatigable Miss Neilson
Many non-physiotherapists have contributed to the advancement of the physiotherapy profession. Primarily they are in the form of other health professionals, like medical practitioners, nurses and exercise therapists, who challenge and progress the technical aspects of physiotherapy. Less well-recognised are the administrators who organise and champion the profession. At the …
Karolina Widerström: Champion of Women’s Health and Rights
Karolina Widerström was born in Helsingborg, Sweden in 1856. Her father worked variously as an army veterinarian, a physiotherapist, and as a teacher. After attending a girls’ school in Helsingborg, Widerström herself trained as a physiotherapist at the Royal Central Institute for Gymnastics from 1873 – 1875. She then worked …
An Irish Tale of the 2nd WCPT Congress in New York
Among my earliest memories is one of listening to my mother – Pat Webb, née Toner- talking about New York and the 2nd World Confederation of Physical Therapy (WCPT) Congress which she attended in 1956. As I write this second-hand reminiscence, World Physiotherapy (as WCPT is now known) president Mike …
Justina Wilson – Twice the Fellow
The following obituary of Justina Wilson was published in the British Medical Journal in 1950. Whilst incorrect in some minor areas and lacking in others, it nevertheless demonstrates her extraordinary physiotherapy and medical achievements, and tells of a life fully lived. The two most significant omissions are her Honorary Fellowship …
Studying Physiotherapy Behind the Iron Curtain
My vocational training as a physiotherapist in the German Democratic Republic (GDR) offered me my first internship in 1968 at a Saxon Thermal Bath, a leading spa facility in the GDR for rheumatic diseases, specialising in ankylosing spondylitis, but also in the late effects of polio. In the physiotherapy department, …
The Machinations of McKenzie
Editors Note: Robin McKenzie is a great of physiotherapy, but as it often the case with those who create change, it comes at great expense – often to others. Former acolyte David Poulter recently shared the tumultuous story of his ten years with McKenzie as both a cathartic journey for …
A Distinctive Style
In September 1940, in the dark days of the Second World War, Denmark was occupied by Germany and Rudie Agersnap was elected chairman of the Danish Massage Association. Restrictions and rationing brought challenges for the profession, with a lack of necessary goods for the masseuses to carry out their work. …
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 …
America’s first Physical Therapist
Whilst Mary McMillan is lauded as the mother of the American Physical Therapy Association, the nation’s first ‘practitioner’ was more likely Charles Fayette Taylor, who brought the therapeutic exercises and massage of the Swedish Movement Cure to New York half a century earlier. Judge for your self by reading excerpts …