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History of P.T.
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History of P.T. - September 23, 1999 6:51:00 PM
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Cranial
Posts: 46
Joined: September 4, 1999
From: Plainville, CT USA
Status: offline
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I am interested in learning what the members learned about the background of our profession while they were in training (and since). Unlike our competitors education, I don't believe that enough emphasis is placed on how and why we developed as a profession.
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Re: History of P.T. - October 29, 1999 8:11:00 AM
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Andrew M. Ball, MS, PT
Posts: 500
Joined: October 8, 1999
From: Chapel Hill, NC, USA
Status: offline
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Cranial,
An interesting question. The history of PT is something that we never really studied in school, though the names McMillian, Cyriax, etc. were thrown around often.
One chapter of my doctoral dissertation focuses upon the development of physical therapy education in the United States. Knowing how rooted our profession seems to be in "clinical tradition" which perpetuate unresearched and often ineffective techniques, I thought that writing the chapter would be easy right? The APTA must have had something . . . WRONG! Boy was I in for a shock!
I could not belive it! The two best sources of information was the 20 page intro to Skully and Barnes' PHYSICAL THERAPY, and the first chapter of Michael Pagliarulo's INTRODUCTION TO PHYSICAL THERAPY, which covered essentially the same material, and pointed to the same sources. Beyond that . . . Very little else.
What's sad is that we don't seem to teach to students the little history that we have recorded for ourselves. That's a grave mistake especially considering what we can teach students about why the profession is in such a state of turmoil. The issue may date as far back as the early 1900's and the advent of physical therapy in the United States.
We've all heard of Mary McMillian, but what about Vermont physician Robert Lovett, MD and his faithfull polio fighting trio (Wilhelmine Wright, Janet Merril, and Alice Lou Plastridge)? How about Marguerite Sanderson, who in 1918 unvieled the first crash course physical therapy curriculum (three months to complete) in physical therapy (actually, those completing the course were titled Reconstruction Aides)?
How many know why and how in 1917 WE OURSELVES solidified the sumissive and subordinate image that we struggle to overcome today by choosing then to call ourselves Reconstruction Aides (as opposed to Clinical Physiologist, or Physician's Assistant - both of which were also used until that time to describe our profession)?
Those who do not learn from their history are destined to repeat it. Most PT's have not taken the first step to learn the history, much less learn from it. A shame really, as roots to many of the problems we currently face as a profession, lie not in the BBA, or HMO's, or productivity requirements . . . but in how we have evolved as a profession.
Drew
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Andrew M. Ball, MS, PT
MBA/PhD Candidate
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