History of sports medicine - 1856-1860

1856

British physician Edward Smith (1819-1874) was a pioneer in the field of physiological chemistry. He developed one of the first spirometers and in 1856 he published a first work, in which he paid particular attention to the functioning of the human body. He registered his own body temperature and pulse up to fifty times a day.

1856

In the autobiography of Swedish Professor Lars Gabriel Branting (1799-1862), a pioneer of physiotherapy, the term 'kinedynamik' appeared 55 times and 'kinesilogy' was mentioned twice.

Chronologically, the English spelling 'kinesiology' already appeared in the biographical sketch of Swede Peter Henry Ling (1776-1839), which was published in 1854 by his compatriot Professor Carl August Georgii (1808-1881). Strangely enough, the term was not mentioned in the French text 'Kinésithérapie ou traitement des maladies par le mouvement selon la méthode de Ling' from 1847 by the same author.

1857

The step from pedagogical to medical gymnastics was put in the Netherlands by the hygienists. By the physician-hygienist Gerard Allebé (1810-1892), the gymnastics school of the 'Maatschappij tot Nut van 't Algemeen' (Society for Public Welfare) used medical gymnastics in poor children with postural abnormalities. In 1857, this task was reserved for the 'urban orthopedist' of Justus L. Dusseau (1824-1887) associated with the school. Gym teachers were also trained in this school. In order to fulfill his duties properly, Dusseau traveled to Scandinavia and visited among other things the well-known Central Gymnastics Institute in Stockholm.

1857

French scientist Nicolas Dally (1795-1862) is considered the father of kinesiology. In 1857 he published his masterpiece 'Cinésiologie ou science du mouvement dans ses rapports avec l'éducation, l'hygiené et la thérapie', 823 pages with text and illustrations. In that book he synthesized European and non-European scientific publications from that time. He explained his concepts and underlined the importance of exercises in the development and improvement of skills, the formation of characteristics and in the acquisition of knowledge and skills aimed at the benefits for human health and conservation thereof.

1857

The Swedish orthopedist Gustav Zander (1835-1920) used the first weight devices with variable resistances. In Stockholm he started the first Sandell gym that was equipped with 27 adapted devices.

Later he manufactured 37 different devices for active movements, eight for passive, eleven for orthopedic corrections and fourteen for mechanical operation. Each device, which is easy to operate, produced a special, precisely determined movement that worked either through the muscle of the test subject or through its weight, but also through an engine on steam, gas or electricity.

Zander presented his instruments at the exhibitions of Philadelphia (1876), Brussels (1876) and Paris (1878) and opened the medico-mechanical Zander institutes around the world, where only his method and certified material could be used under doctor's supervision. In 1893 there were 24 institutes in Europe and America, in 1911 there were 202 worldwide. This inventor of mecanotherapy is therefore rightly credited as the forerunner of modern fitness equipment.

1857

At the Universität Freiburg, court physician Johann Baptist Fritschi (1810-1894) gave physicians for the first lecture on 'Heilgymnastik'.

1858

The Scot Archibald MacLaren (1820-1884) opened a well-equipped gymnasium at the University of Oxford in 1858, where twelve military officers were trained to implement physical training in the British Army.

1858

The German Professor of Physiology Ernst Wilhelm von Brücke (1819-1892) and the French anatomist Louis-Antoine Ranvier (1835-1922) described microscopically the fibrillar structure of muscle tissue and its heterogeneous with alternating light and dark areas.

1858

From 1858, French surgeon Louis Xavier Edouard Leopold Ollier (1830-1900) dedicated his life to the problems of ossification. He called himself an ostearticular surgeon or practitioner of reconstructive surgery.

1858

Polish physician Rudolph Virchow (1821-1902) had a very important influence on medical thoughts in the 19th century. His greatest feat the concept of cell expansion to diseased tissues. His 'Cellular Pathology' published in 1858, analyzed such tissue from the viewpoint of cell formation and cell structure. He described the underlying genetic identity of bone, cartilage, and connective tissue cells and called "osteoid" the tissue that was seen in bone tissue of patients with rickets. The work of Virchow supplemented the pathological studies of the Italian anatomist Giovanni Morgagni (1682-1771) and the Scottich surgeon John Hunter (1728-1793) with histological observations.

1859

The British physician Edward Smith (1819-1874) developed a portable open-circuit apparatus, in which the subject wore a metal mask with valves and for which he used a dry gas meter to measure inhaled air and containers filled with sulfuric acid and potassium solutions to absorb water vapor and carbon dioxide. Both containers were then weighed to determine the carbon dioxide output. To remove the water vapor, the exhaled air was passed through a bottle containing pumice soaked in strong sulfuric acid, and then through a vessel where it came into contact with potassium hydroxide to absorb the CO₂, the amount of which was verified by the weight gain of the barrel. He experimented with this device at rest but also during walks  at 2 and 3 m.p.h. He measured no oxygen consumption, but his data on CO₂ production was accurate. His first major physiological research on humans was conducted in London investigating the effects of forced labor on prisoners. He wanted to determine whether heavy manual labor negatively affected the health and welfare of the prisoners and whether it should be considered a cruel and unusual punishment. He published his research under the title 'The Influence of the Labor of the Tread-wheel on Respiration and Pulsation, and its Relation to the Waste of the System, and the Dietary of The Prisoners'.

The absorption train that would become characteristic of breathing apparatus began to take a clear form with Smith's device. A mask (A), a spirometer (B), the air was dried with sulfuric acid and pumice (C), the absorption of carbon dioxide occurred in alkali (D), the re-drying of air with sulfuric acid (C'). (F) is the scale for the alkali and sulfuric acid containers and the carbon dioxide production was determined gravimetrically.

1859

Hugh Owen Thomas (1834-1891), a surgeon from Wales, was considered the father of Orthopedics in the United Kingdom. He designed the 'Thomas splint', the 'Thomas collar', orthotics for lower limbs and hip and developed the research method in lying position for deformations.

1860

In his book 'Grundsätze der rationellen Gymnastik', German physician Felix Heinrich Paul Confeld published the successes he had achieved in Mainz in his 'Medicinisch-gymnastische und physikalische Heilanstalt'. 42 patients, including 37 women, with backbone bends and neurological problems were healed or improved with his treatment