The History of the Center of Rehabilitation Medicine, Part 1: 1910-1959

The Department of Physical Therapy of the Mount Sinai Hospital Dispensary was established on December 5, 1910 as an independent unit with representation on the Medical Board by its chief, Heinrich Wolf, MD.

Prior to this time the physical therapy services had been “under the supervision of the orthopedic division" According to a report written by Dr. Wolf in 1912, the treatment provided by the medical staff of the department consisted mostly of applying hot air and performing massage for such medical conditions as bone fractures, joint diseases and constipation reportedly with good results. Dr. Wolf believed that The Mount Sinai Hospital was the first hospital to acquire a modern diathermy apparatus and one of the first to use artificial fever in the treatment of disease.

1935-1959

There is little information available about activities within the department until 1935, when William Bierman M.D., one of the pioneers of physical medicine as a specialty was appointed attending physical therapist (and apparently director of the department). (In those days all physical therapists were physicians.) Dr. Bierman, together with two other founders of the specialty, Frank Krusen, M.D., and John Coulter, M.D., established the American Board of Registry for Physical Therapy Technicians in 1934, in order to evaluate and register therapists who were considered qualified.

In 1936, Dr. Bierman was elected President of the American Congress of Physical Therapy, now the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine. That same year, Dr. Bierman was one of the first to advocate establishing physical medicine as a specialty, to the AMA Advisory Council for Medical Specialties. (now the American Board of Medical Specialties). In 1937, Dr. Bierman organized the first international conference on fever therapy in New York City. For his contributions in this field, the French government awarded him the rank of Chevalier (Knight) of the Legion of Honor.

Under his leadership, the department expanded and opened an inpatient division which, in 1938, obtained new quarters with a well-equipped gymnasium for therapeutic exercises, hydrotherapy facilities, a wide range of devices for electromagnetic therapies, and three rooms with equipment for fever therapy.

In 1938, Dr, Bierman helped found the Society of Physical Therapy Physicians, now known as the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. He served as the third president of this organization from 1940— 1941. In 1941, Dr. Bierman received the Gold Key Award, the highest honor given by the American Congress of Physical Therapy (the other recipients that year were President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Bernard Baruch, the financier and philanthropist).

There is little material available to describe activities within the department during the 1940s. During this period, antibiotics became widely available, eliminating the need for fever therapy in the treatment of infectious disease. During World War Il, the focus of physical medicine broadened to include rehabilitation of persons with physical disabilities. This development was partly due to the large number of wounded soldiers in military hospitals, but also due in part to the passing of new legislation aiding persons with physical disability. During the war, Howard A, Rusk, M.D., introduced into Army Air Corps hospitals the concept of active rehabilitation of injured soldiers, emphasizing physical training as well as psychosocial counseling. In 1943, the Barden-LaFollette Amendment, commonly known as Public Law 113, was passed by Congress to permit availability of funds for physical restoration, in addition to vocational training, for persons with physical disabilities. After the war, Dr. Rusk and his colleagues initiated rehabilitation programs for civilians with physical disabilities and began efforts to establish rehabilitation medicine as a new medical specialty with approved residencies.

In 1950, the name of the board changed to Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation as these two medical specialties merged into one. This merger was not approved by all; one of the most vocal opponents was a physician, Sidney Licht, who had trained and worked with Dr. Bierman at Mount Sinai. There is no indication that any comprehensive rehabilitation programs were established at Mount Sinai, either for inpatients or outpatients during this period. Most of the treatments involved the use of physical agents, although there are numerous indications in the Mount Sinai Annual Reports that physical exercise and skills training for patients with physical disabilities were gradually becoming more important.