Path to Professionalism

To mark the APA Centenary in 2006, the APA proudly released: The Path to Professionalism: Physiotherapy in Australia to the 1980s by Philip Bentley and David Dunstan. Written in an engaging and very readable style, and illustrated with remarkable archival photographs, The Path to Professionalism tells the story of Australian physiotherapy from the formation of the Australasian Massage Association and its first meeting in February 1906, to the incorporation of the Australian Physiotherapy Association in 1982.

The path to professionalism has not always been easy and physiotherapists have had to contend with a variety of obstacles, ranging from sceptical medical practitioners to competing therapies. This book traces the development of a profession that would not lie down. It shows how knowledge and practice grew as a result of the interventions provided so willingly as a response to two World Wars. It tells the story of educational battles. It paints a picture of emerging specialities. And it recounts how Australians led the world in the development of first contact practice.

This book is the national history of the profession. It records in fascinating detail how skilled practitioners banded together to educate those who would follow, at the same time seeking the support of the law and medical practitioners in regulating who may practise and under what circumstances.

Australian physiotherapy has been blessed with a considerable number of men and women of skill and vision who have been responsible for the expansion of its knowledge base, the timely application of therapeutic techniques to the ill or infirm, and the raising of its profile. This is their story as much as it is the story of their profession.

Buy your copy of the book from the APA shop