Introduction

  Scope

  Service

  Testimonial

  Classes

  Skills

Although physical therapy could not be elected as a full course until the 1940s, the discipline was part of the course of study from the beginning of the Boston School of Physical Education. Medical gymnastics were designed to improve posture and correct bodily deficiencies; American medical gymnastic teams were sent to Europe during the First World War to aide in rehabilitating wounded soldiers. The teams were made up of "reconstruction aides" and were the founders of modern physical therapy. Widespread polio outbreaks also created a substantial need for physiotherapists, and many Bouvé graduates' first jobs were in polio sanitariums.

Physical therapy rapidly developed into a formal and regulated profession, with accreditation and licensing, and Bouvé was in the forefront of that development. The Second World War put the new discipline to the test, and by the 1950s, there were as many "physios" at Bouvé as physical educators. The profession continued to grow in the latter part of the twentieth century and remains a central course of study in the Bouvé of today.

For a larger photo of physical therapy students trying out out their equipment, click on the image above.