Ludwig Guttmann (1899–1980), Stoke Mandeville Hospital and the Paralympic Games

Abstract

On 27 July 2012 London is hosting the Olympic and the Paralympic Games. The Olympic Games will be attended by 17,000 athletes to be followed by the Paralympic Games with 4200 athletes from 150 countries, participating in 20 different sports. This multicultural event has grown in the last 60 years from a small competition between British and Dutch athletes on the lawns of Stoke Mandeville Hospital in Buckinghamshire. The Paralympic Movement was born out of the vision of Sir Ludwig Guttmann. Before World War II, most paraplegic patients died. Guttmann came to Stoke Mandeville Hospital in 1944 and instituted the modern treatment of spinal injuries which kept paraplegic patients alive. While exercise is an essential part of rehabilitation, developing strength and agility, and a paraplegic patient can only participate in competitive sport when he or she is fully rehabilitated so the sports movement grew out of the successful treatment of paraplegic patients.