History of sports medicine - 1851-1855
1851
German Orthopeed Michael Moritz Eulenburg (1811-1887) got to know the system of Pehr Hendrik Ling (1766-1839) during a trip to Sweden. With the assistance of Hjalmar-Fredrik Ling (1820-1886), Pehr Hednrik's son, he founded the first institute for orthopedics and gymnastics in Berlin in September 1851 and two years later he published 'Die schwedische Heil-Gymnastik. Versuch einer wissenschaftlichen Begründung derselben'.
1851
However, in Sweden it was not all roses there as far as the Per Hendrik Ling's Swedish gymnastics were concerned. In Stockholm, Swedish physician Gustav von Düben (1822-1892), later Professor of Anatomy at the Karolinski Institute, published in a local newspaper the shortcomings observed during an annual study by the Central Institute, especially the anatomical-physiological arbitrariness. In his 1851 letter 'Om Nödvändigheten af vetenskapelig Kontrol öfver gymnastica Central Institute, med särkildt agreed pa the medicogymnastika Verwunden och Undervisningen derstädes' (On the necessity of scientific control of the gymnastic Central Institute, with special attention to the medical gymnastics treatments and - instructions there), he demanded that the Central Institute should come under scientific medical supervision and the physiotherapy treatment under constant supervision of legitimate physicians. In an advice from the Swedish Medical Association, under the chairmanship of Düben, the value of Ling's Heilgymnastiek was doubted.
1852
A pedometer developed by Negretti & Zambra in 1852.
1852
Antonius Mathijsen (1805-1878), a Dutch military surgeon, was the first to use plaster to immobilize broken bones. He discovered that water-immersed casting hardened on drying and thereby immobilized the bones. In 1852 he published the results of his invention in the Dutch medical journal 'Repertoire'. Plaster successfully replaced traditional splints made of gums, and resins.
1852
Starting from the Swedish healing therapy, German physician Albert Constantin Neumann (1803-1870) started his own gymnastic healing therapy of which he tried to adapt the theoretical foundations to the medical-physiological progress. That this attempt had little success was largely due to Neumann's urge for money and unrealistic self-overestimation. Moreover, the introduction of Swedish medical gymnastics in Germany hit a strong gymnastics movement with a strong national awareness.
1853
In 1853 German-born Dutch physician Johan Georg Mezger (1838-1909) gave a new impulse to the massage practice to which he added passive and active mobilization for the treatment of sprains. Graduated from the University of Leiden, he became one of the first physiotherapists in the world. He was immediately successful and thereby acquired European fame. He worked at the royal courts of Prussia, Russia, Scandinavia, and Paris. His method was applied in Germany, Switzerland and Austria and many colleagues came to learn from him. As a condition, he stated that they should have a doctor's diploma and stay with him for three months. Mezger received his patients in the salons of the Amsterdam Amstelhotel, but after his marriage he left the Dutch capital and in 1889 he opened the 'Badpaviljoen', a center for thalassotherapy on the North Sea coast. He received the patients in his villa 'Irma' and did not move, even for princes, princesses, kings or queens.
1853
Although already quite popular in the eighteenth century, but still reserved for a mundane clientele, the baths celebrated their heyday in the nineteenth century. That century was characterized by huge investments in thermal baths, new sources were constantly being sought and 210 were in use at a certain moment. The thermal doctors became more and more numerous and in 1853 they united in Paris in the 'Société d'Hydrologie Médicale', in 1858 a similar association followed in the Midi. The hydrology course was taught at the medical faculties in Lille, Bordeaux and Toulouse.
1853
In Paris, Professor Louis Landouzy (1845-1909) founded the department of crénothérapie, a treatment of diseases with spring water. From 1899 to 1911 he organized annual study trips for hundreds of doctors of all possible nationalities. The discovery of ionization, trace elements, noble gases and radioactivity enriched the value of hydrotherapy, to which heliotherapy (treatment via the sun) and thalassotherapy (treatment with seawater) were linked quickly. The techniques were rather quick to bring the thermal water as close as possible to the area to be treated: nasal showers, inhalations, gargling, bladder irrigations, vaginal irrigation, rectal infusions, and of course drinking the water and their use in body massage.
1853
German physician Hermann von Helmholtz (1821-1894), the inventor of the ophthalmoscope, made an important contribution to the development of the electrocardiograph. In 1853 he described the three principles that control the distribution of electric currents in volume conductors: the principle of 'reciprocity', the principle of 'superposition' and the principle of 'electromotive surface'. The physiologists of that time paid little attention to these principles, but in 1950 they were applied by Frank Norman Wilson (1890-1952)..
1853
The influence of electricity on the human body became more and more known, but also attracted many charlatans and quacks. After an actor was allowed from the Luxembourg authorities to perform acts using electricity, Luxembourg's 'Ärztekollegiums' wrote a letter to the Ministry asking them to withdraw this permit immediately if the actor misused his actions to make fake healings.
1853
After German Professor of Medicine Johann Lukas Schönlein (1793-1864) reported on the successful electromagnetic treatment of patients with stroke, the ball started rolling. Finally, treatment was available for paralysis and even impotence.
1853
French physiologist Claude Bernard (1813-1878) discovered the glycogen function of the liver, suggesting that carbohydrates played an essential role in supplying energy during muscle contraction.
1855
Using airtight chambers, French physicist Gustav-Adolf Hirn (1815-1890) calculated the mechanical equivalent of heat. He examined the contents of exhaled air for carbon dioxide, oxygen and nitrogen. Hirn installed a water wheel in a calorimeter room, a motor outside the room ensured a regular continuous movement. The testee climbed the moving escalator upright. At the same time, he was linked to two gazometers: one via a nose tube for inspiration, the other via a mouth tube for expiration. Hirn admitted that this type of research required a certain intelligence, skill and goodwill from the subject. The amount of labor produced corresponded to the product of the traveled course with the weight of the testee. Hirn precisely suggested the possibility of replacing the engine on the wheels with a brake, which enabled him to immediately measure the work of the human engine. This braking principle became fundamental in modern ergometry. Hirn gained a lot of experience in people and demonstrated in his experiments the principle of French mathematician Sadi Carnot (1796-1832), the equality of thermal and the mechanical energy. His book 'Conséquences philosophiques de la théorie de la thermodynamique' from 1868 can be regarded as a very important work from the nineteenth century.
1855
American physician William H. Byford (1817-1890) published the article 'On the Physiology of Exercise' in the 'American Journal of Medical Sciences', apparently one of the very first contributions on sports physiology.
1855
French neurologist and photographer Guillaume Benjamin Duchenne (1806-1875) published in 1855 the book 'L'électrisation Localisée', where he described with extreme precision the functioning of muscles, as detected by localized electrical stimulation, and opened a new chapter in muscle physiology, pathology and treatment of paralysis.
1855
Moritz Schreber (1808-1861), Professor at the Universität Leipzig, published his masterpiece 'Die ärztliche Zimmergymnastik' in 1855. Schreber is mentioned as the representative of the medical healers who in the course of the 19th century provided natural lifestyle and therapy, healthy nutrition, nude culture, patient's own responsibility and physical exercise as a prophylactic and powerful remedy.
