ABSTRACT
Adaptive sports and recreation have an important role in the lifestyle of individuals with cerebral palsy (CP). This article discusses the history of adaptive sports and the benefits of adaptive sports and recreation. Barriers and medical challenges are also thoroughly discussed, including common musculoskeletal issues, methods to prevent musculoskeletal injury, pain, fatigue, maximal exertion, and other medical comorbidities and illness. The role of health care providers such as physiatrists is emphasized to provide support to individuals with CP who either are interested in starting exercise or a sport or are already an athlete.
Subject(s)
Art/history , Cerebral Palsy/history , Cerebral Palsy/rehabilitation , Recreation/history , Sports for Persons with Disabilities/history , History, 19th Century , History, 20th Century , History, 21st Century , HumansABSTRACT
Sir Ludwig Guttmann's pioneering work in the treatment of spinal injury not only improved the care for patients with paraplegia up to now but revolutionized basic principles of neurorehabilitation. A wide selection of publications honors the personal and academic life of this singular German neurologist and neurosurgeon of Jewish descent. When the Nazis came into power, Guttmann was dismissed from his hospital workplace, humiliated, and later forced to leave Germany. Surprisingly, after the Second World War, the psychiatrist Friedrich Panse, who had been a member of the Nazi party, initiated Guttmann's academic rehabilitation up to his nomination as emeritus professor of Cologne University in 1964. The present article recounts the difficult academic restitution and poses the question why Guttmann sought to re-establish connections to Germany, a country that had expelled him so harshly some decades before.
Subject(s)
Neurological Rehabilitation/history , Neurology/history , Neurosurgery/history , Spinal Cord Injuries/rehabilitation , Sports for Persons with Disabilities/history , Faculty, Medical/history , Germany , History, 20th Century , Para-Athletes , World War IIABSTRACT
The disabled sports movement is considered to have started in 1948 when, under the aegis of Ludwig Guttmann, England hosted the first wheelchair games at Stoke Mandeville Hospital. In this review, we challenge the assumption that sport for disabled people started after the Second World War and contend that it was already practised in an organised fashion in France, Germany and the UK before and after the First World War.
Subject(s)
Sports for Persons with Disabilities/history , France , Germany , History, 19th Century , History, 20th Century , Humans , United Kingdom , United StatesABSTRACT
Ludwig Guttmann was the founder of the National Spinal Injury Centre at Stoke Mandeville Hospital, the first successful unit in Europe to treat spinal injury patients. He also founded the paraplegic sports movement. This article is based on Guttmann's unpublished autobiography and 25 years of personal experience. He was born in Germany where he was trained in neurology, neurosurgery, rehabilitation and research by Otfrid Foerster. Guttmann fled Germany in 1939. German medicine led the World and Guttmann applied his training to the treatment of spinal injury patients in the United Kingdom.
