The start of the history of physical therapy had been acknowledged by researchers to date back as early as 3,000 BC. The field of physical therapy now extends to all regions and in a variety of specialties. Yet in those earliest times, it was China that is believed to have had the best masseuses who also practiced joint manipulation and soon later acupuncture.
But, the rich history of physical therapy cannot be attributed to China alone. In Greece, Hippocrates was able to make out the practice of hydrotherapy and massage as early as 460 BC. And in England, the British Medical Journal had called for the foundation of a physical therapy institute to regulate the practice of masseuses formally under the hands of qualified midwives and nurses in the 1890’s.
Nonetheless, the evolution of the history of physical therapy may be indebted to its nature itself and its practiced philosophy. The early history of physical therapy pioneered a view that the body’s health and fitness be treated according to the workings of biomechanics and kinesiology. There could be no other way to explain the success of the practice throughout the history of physical therapy other than its scholarly expertise on the mechanics of the human body. As testimony to this proficiency, we can look at the rigorous tests and training that the physical therapy discipline went through during the two world wars.
The two world wars awoke the need for PT. It was during these times that the vital role of physical therapy became ever more pronounced to the world. The use of physical therapy shed light to the dark events of blood spills and had left much knowledge for use of future practitioners. In irony, the painful rehabilitation of injured soldiers paved way to the rise of a highly specialized PT. We began specializing in spinal cord injuries, orthopaedic hospitals, chest clinics, and other facilities which provided new challenges and promise to the profession.
Well up to these moments, physical therapy has been progressing as one of the largest allied health professions in health care.
