Synonyms in a broader sense
Therapeutic gymnastics, movement therapy, physical therapy (sub-area of physiotherapy – physiotherapy), physical therapy The term physiotherapy has replaced the term physiotherapy since 1994 and is thus oriented towards international usage. In the following topic I will use both terms synonymously, since physiotherapy is still very often used in general language. The word physiotherapy is derived from the Greek words physio = nature and therapeia = treatment accompaniment.
Physiotherapy-physical therapy is a remedy prescribed by a doctor based on a medical diagnosis and consisting of many different forms of therapy, which has the goal of maintaining or restoring the greatest possible ability to move and function in the physical (=somatic) and mental (=psychological) sense of a person. The ability to move and function can be impaired by illness, accident, congenital disorders or misconduct in everyday life. This goal is based on the definition of the World Health Organization (WHO), which describes health as a state of physical and mental well-being.
The use of various active and/or passive forms of treatment (description follows) can eliminate pain in humans, restore healthy (physiological) movement or replacement functions, balance out imbalances in muscle strength (muscular imbalances) and promote physiological development in children. It provides the patient with a tool (help for self-help) to actively and independently support and continue the healing process and prevent new problems. Already in ancient times the relaxing effect of gymnastic exercises, massages and healing baths was known, thermal and mineral springs were used.
Hippocrates (around 400 B.C. ), who regarded the living body as an organism, health as balance and illness as a disturbed overall physical (physical) and mental (psychological) state, held the medical view that nature has its own healing power. This principle can be found nowadays in many forms of physiotherapy that stimulate the body’s self-healing powers.
Already in the 18th century a Swedish sports teacher developed targeted therapeutic gymnastics from physical exercises, in the 19th century the use of therapeutic baths, water gymnastics and health education etc. (Sebastian Kneipp, the father of hydrotherapy (water therapy) enjoyed growing popularity. At the beginning of the 20th century, a Berlin physician brought “Swedish remedial gymnastics” to Germany and defined the profession of “gymnast”.
As a result of wars and an increase in occupational accidents, the need for treatment increased and extended the application of physiotherapy to various fields of medicine such as surgery and neurology. The term physiotherapy physiotherapy covers a wide range of therapeutic measures and fields of activity. Today, physiotherapy is an important part of modern medicine and many treatment successes in practice, hospital and rehabilitation would not be achieved without physiotherapy. It can be used at any age and is even more effective and less risky for some problems than drug therapy. Due to the increasing awareness of many patients to want to actively participate in their recovery process and to weigh up the benefits and risks of other therapeutic procedures, a treatment that activates the body’s own self-healing powers is becoming increasingly important.
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