A Hospital Physical Therapy Department

John Stanley Coulter, MD, and the Emergence of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation in the Early 20th Century

“…Physical treatments, unlike most other medical interventions, require an appropriate physical setting and standardized procedures prescribed by qualified physicians and administered by professional staff. Coulter was uniquely qualified based on his military service, his experience in industrial clinics, and his academic qualifications to train qualified physical therapy professionals, and to define these requirements [19,21]. Over the years, many of his publications outlined the standards for physical therapy facilities in hospitals, clinics, and for pediatric and rural programs [22‐24].…”

“…Over the years, many of his publications outlined the standards for physical therapy facilities in hospitals, clinics, and for pediatric and rural programs [22‐24]. Shortly after the AMA Council on Physical Therapy was formed, he published his first paper in JAMA, in 1928, describing “a hospital department of physical therapy” [21].…”

“…Murphy, in her history of the APTA, cites Coulter's “ideal physical therapy clinic” defined in 1928, as the standard until World War II [25]. She commended his contribution of 183 abstracts over more than two decades to the Physical Therapy Review, contributions that continued until his death in 1949 [21,25].…”