The emergence of physiotherapy in Germany from the mid-19th to the mid-20th centuries: A "female profession" concerned with movement in the health care arena.

Background: The history of physiotherapy in Germany dates back to the mid-nineteenth century, when German physicians discovered Swedish medical gymnastics as a therapeutic treatment modality. From the early 20th century onwards, physiotherapy slowly began to establish itself as a field of activity specifically for women of the middle classes who provided assistive services to medical doctors.Method: Extensive overview of published and unpublished research on the history of German physiotherapy as well as select primary sources from the 19th and 20th centuries. Additionally reference is made to historical research regarding the emergence of the physical culture and life reform movements, as well as on gender research regarding upper and middle class female employment opportunities in the social and health care sector. Findings: This study outlines the two leitmotifs of physiotherapy's incorporation into the medical sector (i.e. medicalisation) and its (self-)image as a "female profession" (i.e. feminisation) as two intertwined historical phenomena shaping the critical period when physiotherapy assumed its role as a health profession in Germany. These developments from the mid-19th to the mid-20th centuries resulted in the emergence of a "female profession" with a distinct focus on the role of movement as a treatment modality.Discussion: Critical engagement with a handed down professional self-image is needed. On the basis of my historiographical overview, I suggest a future research agenda which would result in a more appropriate understanding of early physiotherapists in Germany as historical agents.

Girolamo Fabrici d'Acquapendente and the Oplomochlion: The Several Applications of an Effective Rehabilitation Tool.

Girolamo Fabrici d'Acquapendente (1533-1619) was an Italian anatomist, surgeon and physiologist and a protagonist of the scientific revolution of the Renaissance. He made anatomy a scientific discipline and is justly considered a precursor of modern orthopaedics. He invented and used several external corrective devices for the treatment of congenital and acquired deformities of the limbs and spinal column, especially those following tubercular infection and rickets, torticollis, vertebral caries kyphosis, scoliosis, and rachitic deformities of the leg, but also congenital dislocation of the hip and congenital club-foot. He ascribed the pathogenesis of the equinovarus supinated foot to the position taken by the foot of the fetus during intrauterine life. The Oplomochlion, shown in the Operationes chirurgicae and attributed to Fabrici, is actually a collection of very diverse orthotic, prosthetic and surgical metal instruments invented by Fabrici and arranged with a demonstrative purpose and a topographic criterion, as if on an exhibition dummy.

The impact of the epidemic of Heine-Medina disese on the development of rehabilitation in Poland.

The work presents pioneering activities of Polish orthopedists in the interwar period who were the first to propose methods of surgical and physical treatment of the effects of poliomyelitis. It also discusses the activities undertaken by the Ministry of Health and the National Rehabilitation Specialist, prof Wiktor Dega, in the early 1950s in order to fight the effects of the Heine-Medin disease epidemic in Poland. They worked on the creation of a network of rehabilitation centres throughout the country, training of medical personnel, development of uniform procedures that would provide the patient with appropriate treatment in the acute state of the disease and during the following years of its consequences. In addition to treating, it was possible for the sick children to get a profession that would allow them to start working. The authors show that dealing with the effects of Heine-Medin disease had a significant impact on the development of rehabilitation in Poland.

La rehabilitación neuropsicológica en el siglo XX / Neuropsychological rehabilitation in the 20th century

Introducción: Los primeros documentos que describen técnicas y procedimientos para mejorar el funcionamiento cognitivo de las personas con lesiones cerebrales datan del siglo XVII. Sin embargo, los gobiernos apenas muestran interés y destinan escasos recursos económicos, personales y materiales, posiblemente por la elevada tasa de mortalidad asociada a las lesiones cerebrales y la limitada esperanza de vida de quienes sobreviven. No es hasta el siglo XX cuando la rehabilitación neuropsicológica, como se concibe actualmente, da sus primeros pasos. Desarrollo: La evolución de la rehabilitación neuropsicológica en el transcurso del pasado siglo puede estructurarse en tres períodos: período constitutivo, período de expansión y período de consolidación. Los dos primeros se relacionan estrechamente con las intervenciones desarrolladas en tiempos de guerra (Primera y Segunda Guerra Mundial, principalmente), y el período de consolidación, con la transferencia de los avances logrados en el ámbito militar a la población civil y la irrupción de las tecnologías digitales en rehabilitación cognitiva. Conclusiones: La historia de la rehabilitación neuropsicológica del siglo XX muestra dos grandes cambios conceptuales, ligados a profundos cambios en las políticas asistenciales desplegadas por diversos gobiernos occidentales. El primero tiene lugar durante la Primera Guerra Mundial, cuando, en respuesta al creciente número de veteranos con lesiones cerebrales, los gobiernos optan por crear centros de neurorrehabilitación. Y el segundo, en las décadas de los años sesenta y setenta, cuando distintos gobiernos transfieren y generalizan a la población civil los avances logrados en la esfera militar

Introduction: The first documents describing techniques and procedures to improve the cognitive functioning of people with brain injuries date back to the 17th century. Yet, governments show little interest in it and allocate scarce economic, personal and material resources, possibly because of the high mortality rate associated with brain injuries and the limited life expectancy of those who survive. It was not until the 20th century that neuropsychological rehabilitation, as it is conceived today, took its first steps. Development: The evolution of neuropsychological rehabilitation over the last century can be structured in three periods: establishment, expansion and consolidation. The first two are closely related to the procedures developed in times of war (mainly the First and Second World Wars), and the period of consolidation is linked with the transfer of the advances made in the military field to the civilian population and the advent of digital technologies in cognitive rehabilitation. Conclusions: The history of neuropsychological rehabilitation in the 20th century shows two major conceptual changes, linked to profound modifications in the welfare policies deployed by various Western governments. The first took place during the First World War, when, in response to the growing number of veterans with brain injuries, governments decided to set up neurorehabilitation centres. And the second occurred in the 60s and 70s, when different governments transferred and generalised the advances achieved in the military sphere to the civilian population

Physical Rehabilitation: A Historical Look.

Medicine aims toward restoring, maintaining, and improving human health, and engineering aims toward restoring, maintaining and improving human wellness. Both disciplines apply knowledge from science and technology at large to accomplish such objectives. Bioengineering, also called biomedical engineering, is defined as the application of engineering principles and techniques to problems in medicine and biology (always with restoration, maintenance, and improvement in mind), which now also includes veterinary medicine, and the environment in general.

[The Danish history of rehabilitation - and what is the doctor's role in the future?]

Not least tuberculosis caused the growth of many spas. In Denmark, the Society for Physical Therapy and Dietetic was formed in 1902, and in 1921 it changed its name to the Danish Physiatrists Society, later the Danish Society for Physiatrists and Rehabilitation. In the early 1980's the National Board of Health decided, that all specialties should rehabilitate patients within their own area, and the specialty for rehabilitation was abolished. Therefore, all doctors need to have knowledge of the biopsychosocial model and the involvement of other professional groups and sectors.

[IMMUNOREHABILITOLOGY: A LOOK FROM THE SOURCES TO THE FUTURE. FROM IMMUNOTHERAPY TO PERSONALIZED TARGETED IMMUNOREHABLITATION].

Development and introduction of modern clinical diagnostic tests (that allow to evaluate the functional system of immune homeostasis) into medical practice, a huge body of evidence on the leading role of the immune system in pathogenesis most acute and chronic diseases and even identification of specific nosological forms of immune-mediated diseases forced the scientists to search and develop new tools and techniques that have therapeutic effects on the impaired immune homeostasis and restore it to the normal state. The introduction of a new concept - immunorehabilitation - was an impetus for the accumulation of new knowledge and a catalyst for research in clinical immunology. It was Revaz Sepiashvili who breathed life into the concept of immunorehabilitation. He was lucky to be at its origi. He became not only the founder of the brand new scientific field - immunorehabilitation, but also the founder of a new medical science - immunorehablitology. In this paper, the author returns to the roots and recalls the way that medical science has gone before coming to understand immunorehablitology and tells readers about current successes and its development prospects.

From ancient Greece to the cognitive revolution: A comprehensive view of physical rehabilitation sciences.

The development of rehabilitation has traditionally focused on measurements of motor disorders and measurements of the improvements produced during the therapeutic process; however, physical rehabilitation sciences have not focused on understanding the philosophical and scientific principles in clinical intervention and how they are interrelated. The main aim of this paper is to explain the foundation stones of the disciplines of physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech/language therapy in recovery from motor disorder. To reach our goals, the mechanistic view and how it is integrated into physical rehabilitation will first be explained. Next, a classification into mechanistic therapy based on an old version (automaton model) and a technological version (cyborg model) will be shown. Then, it will be shown how physical rehabilitation sciences found a new perspective in motor recovery, which is based on functionalism, during the cognitive revolution in the 1960s. Through this cognitive theory, physical rehabilitation incorporated into motor recovery of those therapeutic strategies that solicit the activation of the brain and/or symbolic processing; aspects that were not taken into account in mechanistic therapy. In addition, a classification into functionalist rehabilitation based on a computational therapy and a brain therapy will be shown. At the end of the article, the methodological principles in physical rehabilitation sciences will be explained. It will allow us to go deeper into the differences and similarities between therapeutic mechanism and therapeutic functionalism.

[The department of balneology and physical medicine of the S.M. Kirov's Military-medical academy 75 years anniversary].

The article highlights the history of the creation of the Department of balneology and physiotherapy at the S.M. Kirov Military-medical academy and the stages of its development. Employees of the Academy have a priority in the scientific substantiation of main principles of physical medicine and rehabilitation. They stood at the forefront of development of scientific schools and research institutions. The article presents the main achievements of the Department in academic, research and clinical work.