Physical Therapy

1 Pages 212 Words

The principles of physical therapy have been part of the healing arts since the beginning of recorded time.

The instinctive rubbing of a bruise or an ache is a basic form of physical therapy. As early as 3000 B.C., the Chinese used rubbing as a therapeutic measure. Hippocrates advocated it in his writings in 460 B.C. The Romans, as well as every other civilization, used it. Finally, in 1812, Peter Hanley Ling developed the first scientific basis for therapeutic massage.




Hand in hand with the development of massage went scientific muscle re-education or training. Sometimes this was accomplished with mechanical assistance. But, just as often, it involved the therapist moving the limbs of the patient in specific patterns.





Other standard treatments in the physical therapist’s arsenal have their origins in the early healing arts. For example, hydrotherapy was celebrated by Homer as the cure for the wounded Hector, while the Nile and the Ganges were worshipped for their healing properties.




But modern physical therapy in the United States was established by the Surgeon General’s office on August 22, 1917 with the inauguration of the Division of Special Hospitals and Physical Reconstruction. Persons assigned to this division were charged with not only physical reconstruction programs for the war injured, but educational and vocational training programs as well....