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First Physical Therapy schools formed
The School of Physiotherapy of the University of Otago in New Zealand(seen in photo) and Reed College in Portland were created. These were the first Physical Therapy schools. This was the unofficial start to physical therapy. It had been practiced before this but they finally were teaching it in schools. -
World war I
During this war physical therapy began to become popular. It paved the way for world war II. It was just the beginning and wasn't overly popular just yet. The war was in need of physical therapist but it wasn't until the second world war that they became really popular and in high demand. President FDR(seen in photo) had polio and used physical therapy as a way to help. -
First physical therapy association
The American Women's Physical Therapeutic Association was formed. This was the first association that had to do with physical therapy. In 1922 they changed to the American Physical Therapy Association and men were now allowed to join. It was formed by Mary McMillan. (seen in photo) -
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World War II and polio
This is when Physical therapy really started to become popular. During the war more and more people were in need of physical therapy. Polio was also very prevalent during this time. More and more physical therapists were in demand. Even president FDR used physical therapy as a way to fight his polio. The war had a lot of injuries and physical therapy was used to help the victims it could. -
Doctors specialized in Physical Therapy
Doctors began to specialize in Physical Therapy. The APTA made a section for people specializing in Orthopedics. It hadn't really been something that was focused on until then. Doctors and other people who performed it simply just studied it before and weren't focusing on just physical therapists. There were more than just doctors performing physical therapy. -
International Federation of Orthopedic Manipulative Therapy
A new organization formed and they were called the International Federation of Orthopedic Manipulative Therapy. They made manual therapy popular. -
Technology
Technology was used more, as well as computers. This greatly improved the treatment and research they were able to do. Physical therapy took off from here. ARMTUTOR(as seen in photo). They were really able to asses the situation and study it much better than they use to be able too.
