Category: Research
Fair Competition in the Paralympics
The history of disabled people participating in sport is closely allied with modern thoughts and techniques of rehabilitation and recovery from injury. In the 1940’s one of the earliest pioneers of disabled sports, Sir Ludwig …
Locating Objects from Physiotherapy History
There are different ways to learn about (physiotherapy) history as a wide variety of sources answer questions about the past. Historians differentiate between primary sources, i.e. sources that have survived from the past, and secondary …
History of Physiotherapy Uniforms in Canada
We know that in our world today, uniforms are ubiquitous and continue to define who we are and where we work. As examples, uniforms in the military stemming back to Napoleon Bonaparte, uniforms of the …
Hijamat- the ancient therapy of cupping
While investigating data for our history project on the development of the profession of physiotherapy in the United Arab Emirates, I was reminded of the practice of cupping (hijamat) and have noted its continuing access …
The first ever Special Issue on the History of Physiotherapy now in print
Nearly three years ago now, we put out a call for people interested in compiling a special issue on the history of physiotherapy for the journal Physiotherapy Theory & Practice, and I’m delighted to say that …
The process of physiotherapy professionalisation in the UK – Development of autonomy, Part IV
A Watershed in Professional Independence in the UK – The McMillan Report NOTE: Readers may be interested to know that Mr E.L. McMillan (Chairman of the McMillan working Party, in whose name the Report was …
The Physiotherapy that Time Forgot
In 2018 I experienced “physiotherapy” from many years ago; at the Igalo Spa in Herceg Novi, Montenegro. That’s not me in the photo above, just an indication of what is to come. To give some …
Mobilising a workforce
On Friday this week (20thNovember 2020), the physiotherapy staff in the acute London NHS Trust where I work, along with other professional groups in the organisation, received a request asking for volunteers to administer Covid-19 …
The End of a Physiotherapy School
Abandoned architectural, infrastructural or technological artifacts of the past are scattered all around the world, reminding us that nothing built by (wo)man can ever stand the test of time on its own. The reasons behind …
History of Physiotherapy at the University of Pretoria
Introduction The history of the development of Physiotherapy as a profession as well as the development of Physiotherapy as a professional degree at the University of Pretoria should be seen in the greater context of …