The aim of this essay was to show the impact that driving forces have had on the emergence of rehabilitation as a health strategy in the United States. Specifically, this essay (1) identifies the driving forces that have addressed the development of rehabilitation, (2) examines how the rehabilitative strategy has been driven by the driving forces through turning points and facilitators, and (3) identifies the barriers of each force against the development of rehabilitation. Critical and scoping review of the literature was conducted from the late 1910s until the end of the century. War, economy, the power of the state, and science were identified as the driving forces that led rehabilitation to become a health strategy complementing prevention, promotion, cure, and palliation. World War I and II played as a stimulus for rehabilitation, federal funding facilitated its development, acts, amendments, and governmental programs enabled its implementation, and the acknowledgment of physical medicine and rehabilitation as medical field contributed to its international recognition as health strategy. World Health Organization's International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health is also identified as an emerging facilitator of rehabilitation. Based on the example of United States, this article closes with recommendations toward the implementation of rehabilitation as a health strategy in countries where so far this has not occurred.
