Professor Henryk Chmielewski and other pioneers of manual therapy in Poland

Abstract

The beginnings of manual therapy in Poland, historically speaking, date back to the 1920s and 1930s and are associated with the names of Olgierd Krukowski and Michał Pawłowski, who published their textbooks related to the subject of chiropractic in 1926. The term ‘manual therapy’ appeared in Poland in the period after World War II. Professor Henryk Chmielewski, MD, PhD, bound with the academic centre in Lodz, is commonly regarded as the father of manual therapy in Poland. The aim of the article is to show the biography of Professor Henryk Chmielewski as a pioneer of contemporary manual therapy in Poland, as well as of several other figures who, through their scientific and journalistic achievements, made a significant contribution to the development of this field of medicine in the second half of the 20th century and at the beginning of the 21st century. The paper also presents the figure of Professor Karel Lewit from Prague, who played a very important role in the advancement of manual therapy throughout Europe. The article also includes a brief history of founding manual therapy societies and the quarterly Manual Medicine in Poland.

Keywords

• manual medicine
• manual therapy
• chiropractic