Strength and Science: Gender, Physiotherapy, and Medicine in the United States, 1918-35

Abstract

This article explores the development of post–World War I allied medical professions in the United States, and more specifically the rise of physiotherapy as it was used to rehabilitate maimed soldiers. Unlike other female health care professionals of the time, physiotherapists engaged in intra–gender conflicts with white–collar women rather than attempting to gain independence from medical men. Driven to be distinct from other female professionals, physiotherapists created a unique post–Victorian identity, defining their practice as requiring both strength and science, which challenged the convention of seeing women as the weaker, more nurturing sex. Their story, however, is not one of simple triumph. Eager to medicalize and professionalize their field, by 1935 they subordinated themselves to physician supervision, losing what little professional autonomy they had acquired during the 1920s. Yet, by extending their professional sphere of influence over disabled soldiers, these therapists became physical manipulators of the male body and purveyors of knowledge regarding the definition and treatment of disability.