Tag: C20th

A Short History of Physiotherapy in Ireland

Miss Amelia Hogg set up the first Irish School of Massage at 86 Lower Lesson Street, Dublin in 1905. Nine years later the school moved to 12 Hume Street and remained there for 50 years. Miss Hogg had trained as a nurse, and the 1911 census recorded that she was

America’s Slouching Epidemic

In her recently published book “Slouch: Posture Panic in Modern America” Beth Linker argues that at the onset of the twentieth century the United States became gripped by a poor-posture epidemic: a widespread social contagion of slumping that could have deleterious effects upon individual health, and the body politic. Posture

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.

David Daniel Palmer

How Australian Chiropractors Transformed World Physiotherapy

Osteopathy was devised in 1870s America by Dr Andrew Taylor Still (1828-1917) and chiropractic some twenty years later by David Daniel Palmer (1845-1913). Both utilised a structural perspective to explain and treat functional disturbances. Over the years, orthodox medicine viewed such practices with disdain. The wide variance in training, lack

School of Medicine, University of Queensland

Early Years of Physiotherapy at the University of Queensland

The first course in physiotherapy at the University of Queensland commenced in 1938. Like other programs in Australia and around the world, it was established in response to the shortage of trained masseurs to treat victims of recurrent poliomyelitis epidemics. Discussions regarding the establishment of a course had begun some

Guy's Hospital, Southwark: an aerial view. Engraving by W. H. Toms after R. West, c.1738. Wellcome Collection.

Guy’s Hospital School of Physiotherapy, London

An Overview of the Origins and History 1888 to1992 During the early to mid-1970s I was privileged to work as a member of the physiotherapy staff at Guy’s Hospital London.  Guy’s was founded in 1726 and is recognised as one of the great and famous hospitals in the United Kingdom

20+/20 Seminal Texts

In 2023 we asked the physiotherapy profession which texts of the 20th century they believed have most influenced them. Our objective was to choose a top 20 but because there were so many nominated, we’ve modified our criteria to be the top 20+. Discover the selected texts here. As hard

Blinded ex servicemen training as Masseurs, one of whom was Leonard Howell who lost his sight at Highwood on the Somme in 1916.

Lest We Forget

At the eleventh hour on the eleventh day of the eleventh month – we will remember them. The Armistice (Latin = “to stand arms still”) agreement to end the hostilities of the First World War at the beginning of peace negotiations, began at 11am on the 11th of November 1918. 

The Glass Room

Physiotherapy gymnasiums are rarely located within architectural splendour but for a short period in communist Czechoslovakia, a hospital physiotherapy department was located in one of the great buildings of European modernism. UNESCO World Heritage Listed Villa Tugendhat was built in 1929–1930 for Greta and Fritz Tugendhat to a design by

Physiotherapy is Handling: Then and Now

The seminal paper “Physiotherapy is Handling” was presented by Joyce Williams at the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy (CSP) Founders’ Lecture at the CSP Annual Congress in 1985 and was reproduced in the Physiotherapy Journal in February 1986 (Vol.72, no.2).  Joyce’s biographical details current at the time of publication appear following

Translate »