Physical Therapy
Changes of Physical Therapy
Physical therapy, according to the Oxford Dictionary (2013) is, “The treatment of disease, injury, or deformity by physical methods such as massage, heat treatment, and exercise rather than by drugs or surgery.” The idea of treating a patient with physical exercise, massage, and hydrotherapy dates back to 460 BC (Maughan, 2013), but physical therapy, as an actual profession, is quite young. It was not until around 120 years ago that physical therapy was considered a job, but physical therapists were still not considered more than a doctor’s assistant at the time. It has taken several years since for the public to begin accepting physical therapists as professionals in the medical world, and even today, many believe physical therapists are still not given as much credit as they should be given. Although Physical therapy has only been around for a short period of time, many changes and advancements have been made, but those changes did not come without overcoming many struggles to get the profession to where it is today.
Physical therapy dates back to Hippocrates, in 460 BC. It was called physiotherapy however, and it was not nearly as extensive as physical therapy is today. Hippocrates only used massage therapy and hydrotherapy (water therapy) to treat his patients (“History of Physical Therapy,” 2013). Today, there are many other types of treatment, besides massage and hydrotherapy that make physical therapy much more complicated.
After Hippocrates break-through in physiotherapy, there was very little advancement made to the field. Change to the field did not begin again until 1894 in England, when a physical therapy group called the, “Chartered Society of Physiotherapy” was established by a group of nurses. This group put together several known physical therapy techniques, and then began teaching these techniques to others, spreading the knowledge of physical therapy (Maughan, 2013).
The first formal physical therapy school
Physical therapy, according to the Oxford Dictionary (2013) is, “The treatment of disease, injury, or deformity by physical methods such as massage, heat treatment, and exercise rather than by drugs or surgery.” The idea of treating a patient with physical exercise, massage, and hydrotherapy dates back to 460 BC (Maughan, 2013), but physical therapy, as an actual profession, is quite young. It was not until around 120 years ago that physical therapy was considered a job, but physical therapists were still not considered more than a doctor’s assistant at the time. It has taken several years since for the public to begin accepting physical therapists as professionals in the medical world, and even today, many believe physical therapists are still not given as much credit as they should be given. Although Physical therapy has only been around for a short period of time, many changes and advancements have been made, but those changes did not come without overcoming many struggles to get the profession to where it is today.
Physical therapy dates back to Hippocrates, in 460 BC. It was called physiotherapy however, and it was not nearly as extensive as physical therapy is today. Hippocrates only used massage therapy and hydrotherapy (water therapy) to treat his patients (“History of Physical Therapy,” 2013). Today, there are many other types of treatment, besides massage and hydrotherapy that make physical therapy much more complicated.
After Hippocrates break-through in physiotherapy, there was very little advancement made to the field. Change to the field did not begin again until 1894 in England, when a physical therapy group called the, “Chartered Society of Physiotherapy” was established by a group of nurses. This group put together several known physical therapy techniques, and then began teaching these techniques to others, spreading the knowledge of physical therapy (Maughan, 2013).
The first formal physical therapy school