Tag: C19th
Launch of the Biography of Dr Johan Mezger by Prof Dr Peter Jan Margry
Today, the biography of Dr Johan Mezger was presented at the Amstel Hotel, Amsterdam, by author Prof Dr Peter Jan Margry. The therapeutic gymnast and physician Mezger not only made a significant contribution to therapeutic …
Eliza McAuley – Pioneering Educator
Eliza McAuley was born on 1866 in Upper Plenty, Australia – a rural area just north of Melbourne, Victoria. Her background is unclear, with her father identified both as a farmer (McMeeken, 2016a) and a …
Best-Known Man in Adelaide
On the 17th January 1890, 21-year-old Hugo Leschen of Adelaide, South Australia was travelling to Stockport on the North train. Just as the steam engine pulled into the station a commotion broke out in a …
The Waning Touch of Massage
As old as humanity, massage reached its peak or ‘golden age’ in a seventy year period from the late 19th century through to the mid 20th century. Its rise is often attributed to Swede Pehr …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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. …
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 …