Physio History Quiz 1 Available
To celebrate the 75th anniversary of World Physiotherapy (formerly the World Confederation for Physical Therapy – WCPT) on 8 September …
Soviet Electrotherapy
Perhaps no other country in the world has been engaged in the hardware of physiotherapy as massively as the Soviet Union. Since childhood, every Soviet citizen knew about devices for the prevention of all kinds of diseases: They were not only in hospitals and sanatoriums, but also in kindergartens, schools …
Fisioterapia no Brasil: Profissão assegurada por Decreto-Lei
DECRETO-LEI N.938 / 69 DE 13 DE OUTUBRO DE 1969 DOU nº.197 de 14/10/69 – retificado em 16-10-1969 Sec. I – Pág. 3.658 Provê sobre as profissões de fisioterapeuta e terapeuta ocupacional, e dá outras providências Os Ministros da Marinha de Guerra, do Exército e da Aeronáutica Militar, usando das …
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 Guttmann, observed that the enjoyment and motivation of competition could drive much better levels of …
Pathway to the Modern Olympic Polyclinic
Doctors (and later nurses, physiotherapists, nutritionists, and other biomedical staff) have been present at the Olympic Games from the very beginning but the pathway to modern Olympic polyclinic can only be described as adventurous. In 1896 (Athens) the marathon and water sports got most of the medical attention because they …
Iron Lung fabricated in Lübeck in 1955 Permission to reproduce kindly granted by Deutsches Orthopädisches Geschichts- und Forschungsmuseum.
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 sources, i.e. accounts of the past that are written at a later period of time. …
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 Church (think about the Pope’s regalia and the red robes of his cardinals), Police and …
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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 as a physical therapy in this part of the world. Every year the Dubai Health …
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 papers are now appearing online. There are seven full papers and one Editorial in …
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 …
Were Ancient Spas Precursors for Today’s Massage and Exercise?
Balnea was the name of the ancient spas that would offer any bath and body services such as massage. This characterized both Greek and Roman spas for a long time. In the imperial times, the Roman balnea changed their name into thermae and there worked different figures such as – …