Influential Women in the Field of Neurological Rehabilitation: A Literature Review

Abstract

Background: Medicine requires the brightest minds, regardless of gender. Women working in the health sciences have time and again demonstrated the value of their technical training, communication skills, emotional support, and ability to provide understandable explanations to their patients. The objective of this work was to carry out a historical review of the main female authors linked to classic sensorimotor neurorehabilitation techniques throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, as well as female authors linked to eponymous tests or assessments, exposing their scientific trajectory and main contributions to the field of neurological rehabilitation. A literature review was conducted. The databases of Physiotherapy Evidence Database (PEDro), Scopus, CINAHL Medical Science, Medline through EBSCO and PubMed were used to obtain the biographical information of each author, searches of papers were limited until August 2021 in English and Spanish languages. Seventeen female authors were identified who linked to the main rehabilitation techniques or approaches described for neurological rehabilitation and for scales or tests with an eponymous origin as an example of female contribution on neurorehabilitation. Biographical information based on the computerized search in the electronic databases showed 57 potentially relevant articles. Of those articles, 43 were subsequently excluded. Fourteen articles were used to show their contribution to neurorehabilitation. This paper demonstrates the influential role of women in the history of sensorimotor neurorehabilitation throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, linked to the methods, techniques, concepts, or approaches used in physical therapy or occupational therapy.