ABSTRACT
This chapter traces the broad period between the outbreak of World War I to the Oil Crisis of 1973. The Depression of the 1930s provided the political impetus to establish the Welfare State, and scientific advances after World War II changed the way that orthodox medicine was practiced and perceived. For each major social event of the period between 1914 and 1973, physiotherapy grew both in size and in social standing. Physiotherapists found that the challenges and uncertainties the profession had endured in the previous decades had only served to position it in the ideal place to take advantage of the economic, political and social changes affecting whole swathes of the population in developed countries. So, although the profession often struggled for recognition and members battled endlessly for better working conditions, by 1973 physiotherapy had established itself as the principal provider of physical rehabilitation services throughout the Western world.
