Physiotherapy and rehabilitation have always been inextricably linked.  Although they represent discrete fields, their histories have often been closely intertwined. Physical rehabilitation as an organised discipline has its origins in World War I.  Beth Linker, in her excellent book War's waste: Rehabilitation in World War I America, describes how it became necessary to change American attitudes to the retired Civil War veteran who had been considered heroes and, as such, exempted from work.  But as the cost of meeting their social welfare costs grew, the government realised it needed a solution, and found its answer in the emerging rehabilitation sciences.  The idea of the noble war … [Read more...] about War’s waste – physiotherapy and the disabled war veteran