Last week, we had the first meeting of executive of the new International Physiotherapy History Association (IPHA), and one of the items on the agenda was a proposal to host a Focused Symposium on physiotherapy history at next year's WCPT Congress in Geneva. We've got some fabulous ideas for topics, including possible talks on the history of non-medical prescribing, the roots of manual therapy, the German gymnastic movement in 1920s and 30s,and the history of needling therapies. Thinking about a theme that ties them together has been an interesting process. Physiotherapy's longstanding affinity with biomedicine might well win out, but an equally powerful discourse running through … [Read more...] about Women’s work – the handmade history of physiotherapy
When was physiotherapy born?
I've recently been reading quite a lot of new historical writing around the early history of physiotherapy. Much of it has concentrated on the effect of the First World War on the profession in North America, Britain and the Antipodes, but I've also been reading Anders Ottosson's excellent, and provocative recent papers. Many of you will know of Anders's work, especially his paper The manipulated history of manipulations of spines and joints (pdf) and his thesis Sjukgymnasten - vart tog han vägen?: En undersökning av sjukgymnastyrkets maskulinisering och avmaskulinisering 1813-1934, which argue that physiotherapy originated with the mechano-therapy and medical gymnastics of Pehr Henrik … [Read more...] about When was physiotherapy born?
A new Journal of Humanities in Rehabilitation featuring Thomas Eakins and early photography of motion
Angela Fritz's recent blogpost on the anatomical studies of Thomas Eakins appeared in a new journal that may be of real interest to members of the Critical Physiotherapy Network. The Journal of Humanities in Rehabilitation is published by the Emory Center for Digital Scholarship and aspires to: raise the consciousness and deepen the intellect of the humanistic relationship in the rehabilitation sciences. Our mission is to encourage dialogue among rehabilitation professionals, patients, families and caregivers that describe the human condition as it experiences the impact of illness or disability. We hope to highlight and illustrate the special relationship between the patient and … [Read more...] about A new Journal of Humanities in Rehabilitation featuring Thomas Eakins and early photography of motion
Suffrage suspended? Counter-narratives of womens’ quest for professional legitimacy
Each day over the next week I'll post up an abstract for a paper being presented by a member of the Critical Physiotherapy Network at the In Sickness and In Health conference in Mallorca in June 2015. (You can find more information on the conference here.) Suffrage suspended? Counter-narratives of womens’ quest for professional legitimacy David Nicholls A great deal has been written about the role the suffrage movement played in the development of nursing and midwifery during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Much of this research points to roles played by middle- and upper-class women in professionalizing socially validated notions of caring, and the importance of this … [Read more...] about Suffrage suspended? Counter-narratives of womens’ quest for professional legitimacy