Naissance de la kinésithérapie et de la physiothérapie. L'émergence des instituts de rééducation (1880-1915)

In the late 19th century, some promoters, physicians, surgeons, practitioners of city hospitals invest in the therapeutic use of physical agents: air, water, electricity, massage and gymnastic exercises. On January 5, 1900, a new medical society is created, in Paris, the Society of Physiotherapy (SDK). The company aims “to group the doctors attending medical gymnastics and massage, to gather comments and experiences relating to this branch of medicine but also to examine and study issues relating to this ethical and professional specialty”. The honorary chair is provided by Professor Étienne Jules Marey, president of the Academy of Medicine the same year, a member of the Institute, Professor at Collège de France. The goal is to “bring to the world medical practices that used empirical and to pass them in science”. The effort to identify functional impairment around a coherent therapeutic approach will continue but with difficulty, often at odds between empiricism and humanistic vision of the person: “we must abandon the idea of attacking the disease and apply to heal the sick”. Prof. F. Raymond, Charcot's successor in 1896, offers the following definition of rehabilitation: “rational gymnastics aimed at restoring normal relations between conscious perception and the will”. This will be the base for medical rehabilitation.