Who Is The First Physiotherapist In The World?

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Who Is The First Physiotherapist In The World?

The initial cases of physiotherapy may have occurred tens of thousands of years ago, but only in the last century has the truth about its importance in treating and preventing injury and complications begun to be appreciated. Since it’s difficult to conceive of an era when the use of physical therapy methods, especially in the treatments of pain and injury, was not well known or applied, we thought about this historical process of physiotherapy until the present day.

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Early History of Physiotherapy

Historians have discovered writings and medical evidence of treatments like hydrotherapy, recuperative massage, and sets of exercises from countries as ancient as India and China, as far back as thousands of years ago. The first professional physiotherapist, in fact, is credited to Ancient Greece.

Already in 460 B.C., under the leadership of Hippocrates, an ancient Greek physician who is traditionally seen as the father of medicine, began to be applied massage and manipulative therapy techniques in the treatment of certain diseases. At the same time, Hippocrates and Hector began to use hydrotherapy in Ancient Greece. Even Aristotle, a citizen of Greece and a world-famous philosopher, insisted that oil massage could help you fight against tiredness.

Primarily based on the advice of Hippocrates and Plato, the ancient Greeks and Romans used exercise, massage, joint manipulations, hydrotherapy, and light therapy to cure various diseases.

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History of Physiotherapy (1800s to 1900s)

The 1800s witnessed the evolution of the modern concept of physiotherapy with the formation of the Royal Central Institute of Gymnastics (RCIG) in 1813 by Per Henrik Ling. Called the Father of Swedish Gymnastics, Ling’s Institute was established at that time to improve the damage caused by injuries suffered by gymnasts when performing their activities by using various types of massage, manipulation and training. The education approach and workout regimens of the ancient Greek athletes inspired future generations, especially those in Europe and America.

Beyond this Institute, other noteworthy landmarks in the 1800s include:

1. The medical doctor Dr. Lorenz Gleich gave the term Physiotherapy (curative therapy of illnesses) in the German language in 1851.
2. The Society of Physiotherapy Charity was registered in 1894 in Great Britain by four nurses – Lucy Marianne Robinson, Rosalind Paget, Elizabeth Anne Manley and Margaret Dora Palmerin.
3. In the same year, the word ‘Physiotherapy’ was coined in the English Language. It appeared in the Montreal Medical Journal only 43 years after the word ‘Physiotherapie’ was coined by a German doctor in 1891 named Dr. Edward Playter.
Only in the twentieth century, however, can physiotherapy be said to have had its unified history and the underlined.

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History of Physiotherapy (1900s to 2000s)

The 20th century has seen a lot of accomplishments in physiotherapy, with a good proportion of them happening due to the impact of two world wars, the outbreak of Polio and the computing era of the healthcare industry. Some of the most notable milestones include:

• The founding of the School of Physiotherapy in 1913 at the University of Otago, New Zealand.
• The original Reed College, the institution in London that was founded in 1914, was in Portland, United States, and it taught Physical Therapy.
• The case of the 1916 polio outbreak, when the patients who retained paralysis were approached with passive movements, will be the focus. Manual muscle testing, which was used to check muscle strength and restore the function of weaker muscles, emerged.
• The therapy of American wounded soldiers in the First World War was done by applying Zander’s Machines and Ling’s Swedish Movements.
• In the 1920s, the second episode of the polio outbreak placed further pressure on the physiotherapists, who were again successful in introducing new treatment techniques.
• The Second World War applied the physiotherapy concept to create special clinics to treat amputations caused by shrapnel, burning, cold, wounds, fractures, nerves, and spinal injuries.
• The year 1954 marks the creation of a 7-hour professional competency test by the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) in partnership with the Professional Examination Service.

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