Physical Therapy Comes to British Columbia, Canada: Modernity, Movement, and the Press for the Professional Regulation of Purposive Exercise in the Early 20th Century

This article explores the early roots of physical therapy as a professional field of expertise in British Columbia during the first decades of the twentieth century. It points to the importance of Pehr Henrik Ling's earlier work at the Royal Central Institute of Gymnastics in Sweden and traces the movement of Ling trained female gymnasts and physiotherapists to Canada and their role in the development of rehabilitation services for wounded soldiers returning from WW1, first in Ontario and Quebec and later in British Columbia. We trace the efforts of a small group of female physiotherapists in British Columbia to engage with an emergent female-dominated profession of physiotherapy in Canada while aligning with and remaining firmly linked to the authority of the male dominated medical profession. In this sense, women were both winners and losers in their efforts to gain access to and control over early developments in Canadian physical therapy.