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Mr. America Ron Lacy is here working with a patient in the Rehabilitation Center at the University of Kentucky.

Mack Hughes Photos

by Ray Van Cleef Registered Physical Therapist

ROPAGANDA bombardments have made most of us

Pare the ever-increasing needs and opportu-

nities for school teachers and engineers. Unfortunately there has been an inadequate amount of publicity devoted to the role of physical therapists. This has contributed to the critical shortage of qualified members of this profession in this country. It is estimated that by next year our national needs will require considerably more than 5,000 additional physical therapists. Even this increase of skilled personnel would by no means eliminate the existing shortage of trained workers.

Physical therapy came into prominence through the indispensable role it played in the rehabilitation program resulting from the aftermath of World War I. This was merely the beginning of a rebirth in the employment of natural physical forces for therapeutic purposes. Some of the degenerative diseases resulting from the flagrant abuses of health in our conventional mode of living provide an inexhaustible reservoir of victims needing to be salvaged by physical therapy. The hazards of our mechanized age yields an annual wreckage in the thousands from major accidents. A great many of these unfortunates will need the rehabilitation services of skilled physical therapists to relieve distress and to achieve needed recovery progress.

World War II gave tremendous impetus to the application of progressive resistance exercise as one of the most potent forces of physical therapy. Extensive experimentation has led to a marked degree of progress in expanding the role of this therapeutic form. Technical journals have elaborated on the benefits to be derived from progressive resistance exercise in the treatment of polio, cerebral palsy, paraplegia and a variety of other conditions, including many kinds of injuries. Books, such as Progressive Resistance Exercise by Drs. DeLorme and Watkins, have added immeasurably to the utilization of this fountainhead of rehabilitation.

The natural evolution of this development in physical therapy has provided additional appeal to athletes with a weight lifting background to acquire the required training to become a qualified physical therapist. Thus this profession now has a number of a high caliber of iron game. athletes. Probably the most prominent of this group now is Ron Lacy, the current "Mr. America." This champion is associated with Dr. Ernst Joki at the Kentucky Rehabilitation Center of the University of Kentucky. The impressive photos featuring Ron Lacy in his work as a physical therapist were provided through the kind cooperation of Dr. Jokl. Tom Humphrey is another of the well known strength athletes engaged in physical therapy as his life's work. During his college years at San Jose State and Stanford he gained prominence as weight lifter and gymnast. Now he holds the important supervisor post at the famous Rehabilitation Center hospital of Sonta Monica. Andrew Kush, who won "Mr." titles while attending college in Nebraska, is one of his staff co-workers at this immense physical therapy hospital. West Coast lifting fans are well acquainted with Doug Lindsay's competitive activities in the sport. Few are aware that he is a physical therapist at a leading rehabilitation center at Vallejo, California.

At the First International Conference of Track and Field Coaches held at the University of California in Berkeley, in June, 1956 Dr. Ernst Jokl, Professor of Physical Medicine at the University of Kentucky reported on the use made in his department of weight lifting, not only in the training

STRENGTH

AND

HEALTH

of track and field athletes but also in rehabilitative therapy. One of Dr. Jokl's assistants at the Rehabilitation Center in Lexington is Ronald "Spec" Lacy, current 1957 "Mr. America." Also, Ron Lacy is an outstanding weight lifter. The photographs on this page show how resistance, weight, pulley and dumbell exercises are applied in rehabilitative therapy. The young woman seen in figure 1 suffered multiple injuries as a result of being hit by buck shot. Her spinal cord was partially severed. It was ascertained that several muscles though weakened as a result of the injury functioned normally and an effort is therefore made to strengthen them by means of dumbell training.

The young men shown in figure 2 and 3 were afflicted with poliomyelitis in early childhood. In both cases the disease caused wide spread muscular atrophies. The patients had never received exercise or rehabilitative training prior to the referral to the Lexington Center. Calisthentic exercises in which the weight of the body itself serves as the resistance against which the muscles have to contract (fig. 2) and weight resistance transmitted through pulleys (fig. 3) are applied to develop the musculature as much as possible. At the time of his admission to the Rehabilitation Center the patient weighed 98 lbs. (fig. 3), was unable to stand and to walk. He was almost literally "skin and bones." During four months treatment he gained 30 lbs., learned to swim, to participate in exercise, games, classes to stand and walk and altogether he became a different man. Plans are now being made for his vocational training. The patient shown in figure 4 in a bench press is completely paralyzed from the waist down. His upper body was completely unexercised at the time he was admitted to the Medical Center. After three months treatment he lifted 170 pounds in the bench press, having developed an excellent muscle relief of neck, shoulders, arms, chest and back. His general condition had significantly improved as a result of his training.

Ron Lacy is the instructor depicted in all four illustrations. In his talks at Berkeley, Dr. Jokl stressed the value which he attaches to the application in a medical rehabilitation center of detailed technical knowledge of weight lifting such as can be made available to the patients through the expertness and experience of a specialist like Ron Lacy. Physical therapy has an immediate need for several thousand trained therapists. Hundreds upon hundreds of secure job opportunities are available for qualified workers at hospitals, rehabilitation centers and sanitariums. In fact, a great many of these openings remain vacant only because of the shortage in physical therapists. The compensation in such employment is in most cases adequate and certainly steady. There are also opportunities galore for operating on an independent basis in conjunction with physicians. Here the economic remuneration can be much above average.

A career in physical therapy affords a wonderful opportunity and is a field that should offer a special appeal to a great many young weight training enthusiasts. This profession is of course equally as suitable for young women. Physical therapy is truly a humanitarian type of work and provides inestimable rewards in the satisfaction of being of service to mankind. Needless to say, this field of endeavor requires an attitude of compassion for fulfilling this mission. Physical therapy affords immense variety and an endless cycle of inspiring challenges. This profession has a well deserved high degree of prestige. A physical therapist has a recognized status in the medical field.

There are some 33 schools at the present time approved by the Council on Medical Education and Hospitals of the American Medical Association. These educational facilities in physical therapy are to be found in most sections of the nation. In the majority of instances they are directly linked with universities having schools of medicine. The preparation for a professional degree in physical therapy requires that the applicant be a high school graduate with a college preparatory background. Junior college graduates can usually transfer into a degree program in this profession at the end of the sophomore year. A student with a bachelor's degree and the proper prerequisites can obtain a certificate in physical therapy within a period of from 12 to 18 months. To secure the essential details regarding the approved schools and requirements write directly to: American Physical Therapy Association, 1790 Broadway, New York 19, New York.

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NOVEMBER, 1957

All types of resistance exercises are utilized in rehabilitation work-dumbells, barbells, pulleys and the weight of the body itself: Lacy is shown above working with three patients, using different training equipment.