Post-stroke physical rehabilitation: a byproduct of military medical history and its veteran pioneers. A narrative medical history review

Abstract

The world has been familiar with the diagnosis of stroke since the year 500 BC, as well as with the therapeutic value of physical exercise (early physical therapy). However, exercises were incorporated to promote recovery after stroke in the late 1920s, and matured into an orderly practice in the late 1940s. The synthesis of the reviewed literature suggests that this late date of emergence was, to a great extent, because of the development of relevant knowledge, specific (post-war) timing and the emergence of health professional pioneers that led this practice. This article documents the unique historical trajectory of these preconditions. This brief review demonstrates how war pushed physical rehabilitation to the threshold of being able to provide neurological rehabilitation. It also discusses the contribution of the health professional pioneers to post-stroke rehabilitation, in light of today's more accepted approach of evidence-based practice.