Physical therapy began as gymnastics for the injured
Hippocrates and Galen already prescribed massage and water cures around 460 BCE. Sweden registered physiotherapists in 1887; Britain's Chartered Society formed in 1894. Polio and World War I turned hospital aides into a global profession that still treats movement as the core of health.
Physical therapy—also called physiotherapy—restores or protects health through education, hands-on care, prevention, and wellness. Practitioners diagnose from history and exam, sometimes adding X-rays, CT, MRI, ultrasound, or nerve tests. Treatment spans prescribed exercise, manual therapy, traction, heat and cold, electricity, sound, assistive devices, prostheses, and orthoses. Specialties run from orthopedics and neurology to sports, geriatrics, pediatrics, women's health, wound care, and electromyography; clinics, hospitals, schools, workplaces, and homes all host practice.
Ancient roots run deep: Hippocrates and later Galen urged massage, manipulation, and hydrotherapy. Hieronymus Mercurialis's 1569 De Arte Gymnastica framed medical gymnastics for disabled people of any age. Alfonso Borelli's 1680 De Motu Animalium analyzed disordered movement; Nicolas Andry's 1741 orthopedics treatise tied musculoskeletal health to exercise and helped inspire machines like the Gymnasticon. Per Henrik Ling's Royal Central Institute of Gymnastics opened in 1813; Sweden registered therapists in 1887. Four British nurses founded the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy in 1894; New Zealand's Otago school followed in 1913, and Reed College in Oregon graduated reconstruction aides in 1914.
Polio in 1916 and wartime injuries institutionalized the field; Walter Reed Army Hospital opened a PT school after World War I. By the late 1950s therapists left hospitals for outpatient clinics, schools, and rehab centers. U.S. orthopedic specialization and the International Federation of Orthopaedic Manipulative Physical Therapists both date to 1974. World Physiotherapy, founded in 1951 as WCPT, represents the profession globally. Education now ranges from scant formal training to doctorates; Canada's entry standard is a master's, with Manitoba completing the shift in 2012. In some places, including the United Kingdom, physiotherapists may prescribe medicines.
Source: Physical therapy
