European Journal of Physical Education and Sport Science ISSN: 2501 - 1235 ISSN-L: 2501 - 1235 Available on-line at: www.oapub.org/edu Volume 1│Issue 1│2015 PER HENRIK LING PIONEER OF PHYSIOTHERAPY AND GYMNASTICS Samantha Melnick Independent researcher, Ontario Physiotherapy Association, Ontario, Canada Abstract: In the early 1800s, Peter Henry Ling (also known as Per Henrik Ling) was perhaps the first to notice what numerous others pioneers of physiotherapy have already observed in the past centuries: massage and physical exercises are critical for healing many chronic and acute forms of pain. Even in some way controversial, Ling is widely considered the "Father of Massage". Like many massage therapists and body workers today, he used his own knowledge and experience with pain and injury to craft methods and techniques that shaped the basis of his practice and, ultimately, of massage itself. Keywords: Per Henrik Ling, medical gymnastic, gymnastic pioneer; Swedish physiotherapy, massage Introduction Per Henrik Ling (1776–1839) was a Swedish medical gymnastic practitioner. He pioneered the teaching of physical education in Sweden. recognized Ling as the is often erroneously father of Swedish massage, though that title actually belongs to Johann Georg Mezger. Copyright © The Author(s). All Rights Reserved Published by Open Access Publishing Group ©2015. 13 Samantha Melnick – PER HENRIK LING - PIONEER OF PHYSIOTHERAPY AND GYMNASTICS Early life Ling was born in Södra Ljunga, Småland in 1766. His parents were Lars Peter Ling, a minister, and Hedvig Maria (Hedda) Molin. On his maternal side, Ling was the greatgreat grandson of the famous Swedish scientist Olof Rudbeck (1630–1702), who discovered the human lymphatic system. His family tree extends back to the sixteenth century and includes clergymen and peasants. His great grandfather apparently lived to 105 and had seventeen sons and two daughters. After graduating from the Växjö gymnasium in 1792, he studied theology at Lund University from 1793, completing his degree at Uppsala University in 1799. After that, Per Henrik Ling, worked as a tutor for several families for the next three years. In 1800, Ling left Sweden, lived abroad, and traveled for seven years. It was a different kind of instruction for the accomplished scholar, and he was exposed to experiences that helped contour his academic research. He studied modern languages at the University of Copenhagen. He then traveled to Germany, France, and England. He took part in a naval battle as a volunteer on a Danish ship. Ling studied Goethe and Schiller, the Edda and northern mythology, and composed original poems in Swedish, German, French and Danish. He learned fencing at a school of French emigres and noticed its benefits, and those of physical education, on the gout in his arm. Financial difficulties and rheumatism caused him to return to Sweden. Ling had a passion for his newfound talent. Yet he realized that, though fencing was a valuable fitness exercise, it alone couldn't heal his body. Despite his youth, he was afflicted by physical problems such as rheumatism and lung disease, and had developed gout in his arm. He began doing a series of passive movements that involved stroking, pressing and kneading the body. Ultimately, he perceived that they had a positive effect on his health. Educational career He read Johann Christoph Friedrich GutsMuths' hook Gymnastics for the Youth, and participated in the gymnastic exercises of the originator of Danish gymnastics, Franz Nachtegall He returned to Sweden 1804 in order to establish a gymnastic institute. After his return in Sweden, Ling began a routine of daily exercises, including fencing, and in 1805 was appointed as a master of fencing at Lund University. Having European Journal of Physical Education and Sport Science - Volume 1 │ Issue 1 │ 2015 14 Samantha Melnick – PER HENRIK LING - PIONEER OF PHYSIOTHERAPY AND GYMNASTICS discovered that his daily exercises had restored his health, Ling decided to apply this experience for the benefit of others. He saw the potential of adapting these techniques to promote better health in many situations and thus expanded his knowledge by attending classes in anatomy and physiology, and by attending through the entire curriculum for the training of a medical doctor. Ling saw potential in these movements, which he called medical gymnastics , and wanted to educate people on his "suitable systematized exercises." He felt that, by performing these movements, the body and the mind would feel and perform better. He then outlined a system of gymnastics, exercises, and maneuvers divided into four branches: - pedagogical, - medical, - military, and - aesthetic, which carried out his theories and demonstrated the scientific rigor to be integrated or approved by established medical practitioners. Ling was the gymnastics instructor in the Military Academy at Carlsberg. After several attempts to interest the Swedish government, Ling at last obtained government cooperation in 1813, and founded the Royal Gymnastic Central Institute for the training of gymnastic instructors was opened in Stockholm, with Ling appointed as principal. Ling really cared about healing people, and dedicated the rest of his life to building on the system he had created. Like therapists, teachers and educators today who have spent many years in the field, he undertook his work because he recognized the value of touch. He never gave up on his values, and was dedicated to undertaking his study "by the most careful and untiring analysis of details." He was praised for his personal qualities as well. Mathias Roth, one of Ling's students, wrote: "Ling was a man of high moral tone, pious, sincere, honest in all his dealings with his fellow man. His intellectual powers were of a very high order; he loved with the same energy with which he worked, the objects of his home-affections, his friends, the poor, his country, and mankind." In the 2010 edition of his book, Theory and Practice of Therapeutic Massage”, Mark F. Beck wrote: European Journal of Physical Education and Sport Science - Volume 1 │ Issue 1 │ 2015 15 Samantha Melnick – PER HENRIK LING - PIONEER OF PHYSIOTHERAPY AND GYMNASTICS "Per Henrik Ling is known as the father of physical therapy." He continues: "Per Henrick of Sweden developed medical gymnastics later known as the Swedish Movement Cure and the precursor to Swedish massage." Ling invented physical education apparatus including the box horse, wall bars, and beams. He is also credited with developing calisthenics and free calisthenics. Orthodox medical practitioners were opposed to the claims made by Ling and his disciples. However, by 1831, Ling was elected a member of the Swedish General Medical Association (Svenska läkaresällskapet), which demonstrated that his methods were regarded as worthy of professional recognition. He was elected a member of the Swedish Academy in 1835. In the same year became a titular professor. Legacy When Ling died of tuberculosis in 1839, he had charged three of his pupils with carrying on his legacy. These pupils were Lars Gabriel Branting (1799–1881), who succeeded Ling as principal of the Institute; August Georgii, who became sub-director of the Institute; and his own son, Hjalmar Ling (1820–1886). These three, along with Major Thure Brandt, who from c. 1861 specialized in the treatment of women (gynecological gymnastics), are regarded as the pioneers of Swedish medical gymnastics. Although Ling is sometimes credited as the father of Swedish massage, it was not a part of his Gymnastic Movements nor the curriculum of the Royal Central Gymnastic Institute founded by Ling in 1813. The "Swedish massage" techniques effleurage (long, gliding strokes), petrissage (lifting and kneading the muscles), friction (firm, deep, circular rubbing movements), tapotement (brisk tapping or percussive movements), and vibration (rapidly shaking or vibrating specific muscles) are largely credited to Johann Georg Mezger (1838–1909). Some sources mention that Ling learned massage from a Chinese friend, Ming, but this was an invention of Ling’s rivals, in an effort to discredit his work. “lthough Ling was probably aware of Chinese massage, he instead developed a system of integrated manual therapy, combining physical training and gymnastic procedures with knowledge of anatomy, physiology, and pathology.[8] He was the first to publish and popularize such a system with modern scientific knowledge. Ling's system of medical gymnastics also influenced later institutions and systems. The Gymnastic Orthopedic Institute was founded in Stockholm in 1822 by Nils Åkerman, which from 1827 received a government grant. Around 1857, Gustaf Zander European Journal of Physical Education and Sport Science - Volume 1 │ Issue 1 │ 2015 16 Samantha Melnick – PER HENRIK LING - PIONEER OF PHYSIOTHERAPY AND GYMNASTICS developed a medico-mechanical system of gymnastics, known by his name, and started his Zander Institute at Stockholm in 1865. At the Stockholm Gymnastic Central Institute, qualified medical faculties have supervised the medical department since 1864. Broadly speaking, there have been two streams of development in the Swedish gymnastics founded on Ling's beginnings, either in a conservative direction, making certain forms of gymnastic exercises subsidiary to the prescriptions of orthodox medical science, or else in an extremely progressive direction, making these exercises a substitute for any other treatment, and claiming them as cures for diseases. A representative of the latter, more extreme section was Henrik Kellgren (1837–1916), who had a special school and following. Other accounts of Dr Ling's practice and philosophies were published: a Handbook of Medical Gymnastics” (English edition, 1899) by Anders Wide of Stockholm represents the more conservative practice. Henrik Kellgren's system is partially based on Ling's, and is described in The Elements of Kellgren's Manual Treatment” (1903) by Edgar F. Cyriax, who, before earning his MD at Edinburgh, had served at the Stockholm Institute as a gymnastic director. References 1. Georgii, Augustus (1854). A Biographical Sketch of the Swedish Poet and Gymnasiarch, Peter Henry Ling. Oxford University: H. Bailliere, London. pp. 1–2,39. 2. Calvert, Robert Noah. "Swedish Massage". Massage Magazine. Retrieved 15 June 2013. 3. Diem, Carl. "Per Henrik Ling On the Occasion of the One Hundredth Anniversary of His Death" (PDF). library.la.84. Retrieved 22 November 2015. 4. Calvert, Judi (September 2010). "The Life of Pehr Henrik Ling". Massage Today. Retrieved 22 November 2015. Tidskr, Sven Med. "Per Henrik Ling and his impact on gymnastics". PubMed.gov. US National Institute of Medicine. Retrieved 13 October 2014. 5. "Per Henrik Ling - Swedish Physical Educator". Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. Retrieved 22 November 2015. 6. Brodin, H. "Per Henrik Ling and his impact on gymnastics". National Center for Biotechnology Information, U.S. National Library of Medicine. Retrieved 22 November 2015. European Journal of Physical Education and Sport Science - Volume 1 │ Issue 1 │ 2015 17 Samantha Melnick – PER HENRIK LING - PIONEER OF PHYSIOTHERAPY AND GYMNASTICS 7. Ottosson, A (2010). "The first historical movements of kinesiology: scientification in the borderline between physical culture and medicine around 1850.". Int J Hist Sport. 27 (11): 1892–1919. doi:10.1080/09523367.2010.491618. PMID 20653114. 8. Kleen E. Handbook of Massage 1892 9. Taylor GH. Exposition of The Movement-Cure 1860 10. Calvert R. The History of Massage 2002 11 Grafstrom AV. Text of Mechano-Therapy (Massage and Medical Gymnastics) 1898 12. Macafee NE. Massage An Elementary Textbook For Nurses 1920 13. Beck M. Theory & Practice of Therapeutic Massage Fifth Edition 2010 14. Massagetoday http://www.massagetoday.com/mpacms/mt/article.php?id=14291 Creative Commons licensing terms Authors will retain the copyright of their published articles agreeing that a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0) terms will be applied to their work. Under the terms of this license, no permission is required from the author(s) or publisher for members of the community to copy, distribute, transmit or adapt the article content, providing a proper, prominent and unambiguous attribution to the authors in a manner that makes clear that the materials are being reused under permission of a Creative Commons License. Views, opinions and conclusions expressed in this research article are views, opinions and conclusions of the author(s). Open Access Publishing Group and European Journal of Physical Education and Sport Science shall not be responsible or answerable for any loss, damage or liability caused in relation to/arising out of conflict of interests, copyright violations and inappropriate or inaccurate use of any kind content related or integrated on the research work. All the published works are meeting the Open Access Publishing requirements and can be freely accessed, shared, modified, distributed and used in educational, commercial and noncommercial purposes under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0). European Journal of Physical Education and Sport Science - Volume 1 │ Issue 1 │ 2015 18