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The origins of the profession of physiotherapy are thought to date back as far as Hippocrates, the ancient Greek physician who lived during Greece’s Classical period (c. 400 BCE). He advocated the use of physical therapies to treat a number of ailments.

The profession began in earnest in 1813 when Per Henrik Ling founded the Royal Central Institute of Gymnastics in Sweden. Ling recognized the benefits of massage, physical manipulation and exercise, not just in treating ailments but in the prevention of disease.

The Society of Trained Masseuses was established in 1894 in order to protect the profession from falling into disrepute as a result of a number of newspaper articles. The society’s emphasis was on the medical model for massage training and high academic standards. By 1900 the Society progressed to obtaining the legal status of a professional organization and became the Incorporated Society of Trained Masseuses. This helped to improve the public’s perception of the profession.

The society was granted the Royal Charter in 1920 and joined with the Institute of Massage and Remedial Gymnastics. The society and the profession grew and in 1944 it became the Charted Society of Physiotherapy (CSP), its name to this day.

Then in 1976, the society was also recognized as an independent trade union. It was not until 1977 that the Department of Health recognized professional autonomy for physiotherapists, and the following year a change in law allowed direct referrals to physiotherapists without the need for a medical referral.

In 1992 the physiotherapy profession became an all‐graduate entry profession. The Health Professionals Council (HPC) replaced the Council for the Professions Supplementary to Medicine (CPSM), and physiotherapy came under the regulation of the HPC in 2003. This established legal protection for the titles of “Physiotherapist” and “Physical Therapist.”