From Humble Beginnings: The Story of Physiotherapy

In this article, we take a brief look at the history of physiotherapy from the ancients to today.

The earliest advocates of physical therapy can be traced back to the ancient Greeks. In fact, Hippocrates and later Galenus are believed to have been the first practitioners of therapeutic massage and hydrotherapy, with dates estimated around 460 BC. Since then, however, the field has evolved tremendously into an independent branch of the allied health disciplines which covers a wide range of medical applications.

In 1894, physiotherapy was formally recognised as a specialized discipline within nursing, and started to be regulated officially by the Chartered Society. During the next two decades, countries such as New Zealand and United States of America set up academic programs to further the development of the field and provide a standardised structure for studies into the area. In fact, research has long been a feature of modern physiotherapy, with the first USA published research dating back to 1921. This incidentally coincided with the formation of the Physical Therapy Association (and later the APTA) in the USA, which significantly shaped the future development of the profession across North America throughout the twentieth century.

Recently, physiotherapy has experienced a lot of professional support with the advent of the International Federation of Orthopaedic and Manipulative Therapy, meaning that from physiotherapy in Hertfordshire to physiotherapy in Sydney and beyond, practitioners form part of a worldwide network of professionals who share and promote research, further adding to the profession's development.

Particularly throughout the 1980s, technological advances made it possible for physiotherapists to develop new and safe treatments which combined traditional techniques with the sophisticated computer-aided simulations, ultrasound machines, and electrical applications that had once seemed like instruments of torture. Some therapists have subsequently argued, however, that these technologies did little more for the profession than was already possible with conventional methods, and spurred on by Freddy Kaltenborn, such advancements soon fell out of favour.

However, today the profession is characterised by a strong commitment to research and development, as witness the amount of research-based physiotherapy posts which now form part of the numerous physiotherapy practices throughout both the USA and Europe. In particular, physiotherapists are now expected to channel very specific medical specialties, including respiratory medicine, acute medicine, obstetrics and gynaecology, trauma and orthopaedics, sports medicine, and outpatients. As a result of this, there now exists a compendium of multi-disciplinary research centred on physical therapy, cultivated by a closely connected network of professionals worldwide.

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