Pehr Henrik Ling

Pehr Henrik LingPehr Henrik Ling (15 November 1776 – 3 May 1839) pioneered the teaching of physical education and gymnastics in Sweden. He is considered the Father of Physical Therapy in Sweden. Although his procedures included friction, kneading, stroking, cupping, and clapping they were not related to what was later termed as Swedish massage.

Early life

Ling was born in Södra Ljunga, Småland in 1776. His parents were Lars Peter Ling, a minister, and Hedvig Maria (Hedda) Molin. On his maternal side, Ling was the great-great-grandson of the famous Swedish scientist Olof Rudbeck (1630–1702), who discovered the human lymphatic system. His family tree extends back to the sixteenth century and includes clergymen and peasants. His great-grandfather apparently lived to 105 and had seventeen sons and two daughters. After graduating from the Växjö gymnasium in 1792, he studied theology at Lund University from 1793, completing his degree at Uppsala University in 1799.

Travels

In 1800, Ling left Sweden and lived abroad and traveled for seven years. He studied modern languages at the University of Copenhagen. He then traveled to Germany, France, and England. He took part in a naval battle as a volunteer on a Danish ship.

Back in Sweden, Ling began a routine of daily exercise, including fencing, and in 1805 was appointed as a master of fencing at Lund University. Having discovered that his daily exercises had restored his health, Ling decided to apply this experience for the benefit of others. He saw the potential of adapting these techniques to promote better health in many situations and thus attended classes in anatomy and physiology, and went through the entire curriculum for the training of a medical doctor. He then outlined a system of gymnastics, exercises, and maneuvers divided into four branches: pedagogical, medical, military, and aesthetic which carried out his theories and demonstrated the scientific rigor to be integrated or approved by established medical practitioners. Ling was the gymnastics instructor in the Military Academy at Carlsberg. and founded the Royal Central Gymnastics Institute for the training of gymnastic instructors was opened in Stockholm, with Ling appointed as principal. Ling invented physical education apparatus including the box horse, wall bars, and beams. and became a titular professor the same year.

Legacy

When Ling died of tuberculosis The Swedish massage techniques effleurage (long, gliding strokes), petrissage (lifting and kneading the muscles), friction (firm, deep, circular rubbing movements), tapotement (brisk tapping or percussive movements), and vibration (rapidly shaking or vibrating specific muscles) are largely credited to Johann Georg Mezger (1838–1909). He was the first to publish and popularize such a system with modern scientific knowledge.

Ling's system of medical gymnastics also influenced later institutions and systems. The Gymnastic Orthopedic Institute was founded in Stockholm in 1822 by Nils Åkerman, which from 1827 received a government grant. Around 1857, Gustav Zander developed a medico-mechanical system of gymnastics, known by his name, founding the Zander Institute at Stockholm in 1865. At the Stockholm Gymnastic Central Institute, qualified medical faculties have supervised the medical department since 1864. The Dedham Public Schools began teaching the Ling System in 1893.

Other accounts of Dr Ling's practice and philosophies were published: a Handbook of Medical Gymnastics (English edition, 1899) by Anders Wide of Stockholm represents the more conservative practice. Henrik Kellgren's system is partially based on Ling's, and is described in The Elements of Kellgren's Manual Treatment (1903) by Edgar F. Cyriax, who, before earning his MD at Edinburgh, had served at the Stockholm Institute as a gymnastic director. See also the encyclopedic work Sweden: its people and its industry: historical and statistical handbook (1904), p. 348, edited by Gustav Sandburg for the Swedish government.

The yoga scholars Mark Singleton and Anya Foxen state that Ling's gymnastics shaped the development of modern yoga as exercise in the Western world.

In 1939 and again in 1949, Sweden held a large gymnastics competition named for Ling, "The Lingiad" (written Lingiaden in Swedish).

Honors and awards

Honorary Fellow in Memoriam, National Academy of Kinesiology