Tag: C20th
APTA Centenary
Cameron MacDonald – USA representative for IPHA, though with an accent that is very southern… The countdown to the 100 year anniversary of the professional association for physical therapist practice in the United Sites commenced at the Combined Sections Meeting (CSM) in Denver CO on February 12th. The official launch …
The Stoke Mandeville bed cycle
This post was written by Selina Hurley, Curator of Medicine, at the Science Museum in London Now on display in Medicine: The Wellcome Galleries, this bed cycle helps tell the story of Ludwig Guttmann (1899-1980), German neurologist, who was part of a movement to change the treatment of people with …
The IPHA in 2020
Last week we had the first meeting of the IPHA Executive for 2020. Over the course of the next few weeks you’re going to be able to read about some of the work we’re doing, as each of the Exec members post about work they’re involved in. Perhaps the most …
Robin McKenzie: History’s Greatest Physios – People’s Choice Award
Robin McKenzie has received many awards, honours and titles during his career, and added to them is the International Physiotherapy History Association’s History’s Greatest Physios – People’s Choice Award. The Award is based on the greatest number of nominations for inclusion in the list of History’s Greatest Physios. Robin Anthony …
Massage and the history of physiotherapy
A few days ago, Kay Nias, Medicine Galleries Research Fellow at the Science Museum in London, gave a talk on massage and the history of physiotherapy (link). Kay was kind enough to share her slides with us and the text of her talk (see below). You can find more of …
IFOMT 1977
The proceedings of the 3rd international seminar of the International Federation of Orthopaedic Manipulative Therapy make for fascinating reading. Just over 40 years ago now, the meeting held in Vail, Colorado from May 30th to June 3rd brought together some now well known practitioners from around the world. Given the …
Mystery Physiotherapy History
Those of you older than, say, 50, should have no trouble identifying these. So do you know what they are and what we did with them?
The history of manipulation
IPHA member Cameron MacDonald, along with Peter Osmothely, Robert Parkes and Darren Rivett have recently published an article in the Journal of Manual & Manipulative Therapy looking at the ongoing debate around the regulation of manipulative therapies in America. In the article, they take an historical approach to the question …
Learning electrotherapy the hard (wired) way
Most physiotherapists will have memories of learning about electrotherapy. Perhaps you learned from Clayton’s Electrotherapy and Actinotherapyabout sinusoidal currents and short-wave diathermy. And perhaps you still have waking nightmares about induction coils? Or perhaps, if you trained under Enid Gotts at the School of Physiotherapy in Dunedin, New Zealand, you’ll …
Light therapy
Physiotherapy has a long history with light therapy. Throughout much of the 20th century, light therapies were an integral part of the therapists toolkit. And actinotherapy – or the therapeutic use of artificial non-ionising radiations, especially ultraviolet light and infra-red (Beckett 1955, 1) – has formed perhaps the largest part. …







