A History of Physical Therapist Education Around the World

Abstract

INTRODUCTION The roots of the physical therapist education reach back through the ages. The development of physical therapy as an autonomous profession based on current scientific knowledge was in large part due to Per Henrik Ling of Sweden. In 1813, he founded the Royal Central Institute of Gymnastics (RCIG) in Stockholm for the training of gymnastic instructors. With the founding of RCIG, Ling provided a professional identity for the physical therapist. Thereafter, physical therapist education evolved in different ways around the world. In the United Kingdom, it was through the Society of Trained Masseuses. In Norway and Finland, it was influenced by the work of Ling, with an emphasis on massage training. In the United States, it was as a result of the polio epidemics and the need to treat those wounded during World War I. The World Confederation for Physical Therapy (WCPT) has established standards and guidelines for physical therapist entrylevel education that are globally relevant and available to all on its Web site. They include the Policy Statement: and the 5 WCPT guidelines related to physical therapist professional entry-level education (WCPT Guidelines for Physical Therapist Professional Entry-Level Education; for Qualifications of Faculty for Physical Therapist Professional Entry-level Education Programs; for the Clinical Education Component of Physical Therapist Professional Entry-level Education; for Curricula for Physical Therapists Delivering Quality Exercise Programs Across the Life Span; and Guideline for a Standard Evaluation Process for Accreditation/Recognition of Physical Therapist Professional Entry-level Education Program). Consideration of physical therapist education across member organizations in each of the 5 WCPT regions clearly demonstrates that major diversity exists in physical therapist entry-level professional education around the world. THE ROOTS The roots of the profession of physical therapy may have begun as early as 3,000 BC, with evidence that the Chinese practiced massage. Hippocrates (460-377 BC) made reference to friction massage.1 The use of therapeutic exercise and massage in the 16th century occurred when the Greeks realized that physical health and spiritual health were inseparable. An Italian physician, Gerolamo Mercuriale, used exercise both hygienically and curativeIy in the 1500s.2 In Sweden in the early 19th century, Pehr Henrik Ling combined massage and rhythmic exercises for health benefits.3 In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, there are references to correcting childhood deformities with splinting, massage, and prosthetics; treating patients with a stroke by reawakening the weakened control of the brain through motion; and using a regime of and massage to treat scoliosis.4 BEGINNINGS OF PHYSICAL THERAPIST EDUCATION IN SWEDEN The profession of physical therapy developed in Sweden first as an autonomous profession based on the scientific knowledge of the day due to Pehr Henrik Ling (Figure 1), who has been called the Father of Swedish Gymnastics. Ling, originally a graduate of the Vaxjo gymnasium (1792) and a fencing master, went on to study theology at Lund and Uppsala Universities. While traveling abroad after graduation, he met a Chinese individual (Ming) who instructed Ling in martial arts and tui na. Ling acquired further knowledge in England, Germany, and France that expanded Ming's special gymnastics or exercises and were aimed at enhancing stamina, strength, and flexibility- requisites for Ling's fencing. Ling returned to Sweden as a result of overuse injuries and rheumatism and healed himself using the exercises that he had acquired. He was appointed as a fencing master at Uppsala. Appreciating how the exercises had restored his health, he understood the importance of using exercises for the health of others. …