Tag: physiotherapy
The State Institute for Physiotherapy and Massage in Dresden, Germany
(Translated by Sandra Schiller) Physiotherapy as a profession has different roots throughout Europe. Sweden pioneered medical gymnastics at the beginning of the 19th century. The initiator was Pehr Henrik Ling, a Swedish poet with a great love for nature and his country. The Royal Central Institute of Swedish Gymnastics was …
Researching the History of Physiotherapy in Saxony (Germany).
(Translated by Sandra Schiller) When I started research on the history of physiotherapy in Saxony for a talk I had been invited to give following German Reunification in 1990, I asked the state schools for physiotherapy in Leipzig, Zwickau and Dresden for any memorabilia they might have. One of the …
20+/20 Seminal Texts Announced
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 …
Interview with an East German Specialist Physiotherapist
An interview with Brigitte Böttcher, former specialist physiotherapist for psychosocial medicine in the German Democratic Republic (GDR). The distinct historical development of physiotherapy in the German Democratic Republic (1949 to 1990) has been neglected. For this reason, the experiences and memories of witnesses are crucial to learn more about this …
Greed, Jealousy and the Demise of Medical Physiotherapy
Before its adoption by laymen (or more correctly, laywomen) the word ‘physiotherapy’ was used by the medical profession to describe all of the physical agents, including the X-ray. In the 1920s, radiology became a unique medical specialty, but for a brief period in the nineteen tens and twenties it was …
Asthma and Your Child
The book Asthma and Your Child was first published in 1963 by New Zealand respiratory physiotherapist Bernice “Bunny” Thompson. It focused on the need for well-targeted breathing and physical exercises in the management of children’s asthma. The book’s popularity continued through to subsequent editions, despite the introduction of metered dose …
Physical Therapy in Pakistan:
50-Years to Recognition
In Pakistan the physical therapy profession underwent a gradual development, taking around 50 years to reach its current level of education and recognition. The initial steps occurred in 1956 at Jinnah Postgraduate Medical College, through a partnership between the Ministry of Health (MOH) and the World Health Organization (WHO), to …
History of Physiotherapy in Croatia
The Balkan region, where Yugoslavia partly extended (Socialist Federal Republic from 1942 to 1992), comprised the republics at that time, which are now independent states: Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Macedonia, Montenegro, and Kosovo. In this territory, the Association of Physiotherapists and Occupational Therapists of Yugoslavia was established on …
The History of Light Therapy
Historically, light treatment has roots in ancient Egypt, India, and Greece, as “heliotherapy” (natural sunlight) for the treatment of skin diseases. Modern phototherapy (artificial light) has its origins in the latter part of the 19th century, with the observation in 1877 that sunlight was beneficial in the treatment of anthrax …
Interview with a Russian physiotherapist, soldier, spy and double agent
My name is Olga Capatina. I was born in Moldova, in the North, on the banks of the Dniestr in 1955. My parents were also Moldavian. In fact, they were Romanians before WWII, but after the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact Moldova became part of the USSR. I studied at the Balti Pedagogical …