Tag: profession
New Article Published
The International Physiotherapy History Association is pleased to announce that it has published an editorial in the journal Physiotherapy Theory and Practice. This editorial, titled “Physiotherapy: The history behind the word”, explores how the current profession, having evolved from a series of disconnected practices (such as manipulation, gymnastics, massage, hydrotherapy, …
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 …
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. …
A Profession for Middle Class Women
In 1986 Stephanie Short, a physiotherapist and sociologist, published an article in the Australian Journal of Physiotherapy titled, “Physiotherapy – A feminine profession”. Short argued that the female-dominated professions in health care are not as powerful as the male-dominated medical profession and that the key factor in shaping the discrepancies …
The Other McKenzie
Within the physiotherapy profession the name McKenzie resonates with greatness. New Zealand musculoskeletal physiotherapist Robin McKenzie revolutionised the worldwide treatment of low back pain in the 1980s and his work continues today through the McKenzie Institute International. However there is another, less well known McKenzie, whose contribution to the profession of …
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 …
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 …
The New Zealand Private Practice Boom
In the years before 1974, private physiotherapy practices were few and far between in New Zealand. Patients either paid the full cost of treatment themselves, or claimed against private insurance schemes which had highly unregulated fee structures and were unwilling to negotiate fees with physiotherapists locally or nationally. With the …