Polio Epidemics and Modern Rehabilitation Medicine：The Story of Sister Elizabeth Kenny and President Franklin Roosevelt

Abstract

Polio epidemics in the USA during the 1940s and 1950s were among the most feared diseases of the 20^th century. Sister Elizabeth Kenny and President Franklin Roosevelt both made key contributions to modern rehabilitation medicine, leading to the promotion of global progress made by the International Society of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine a half century later. Dr. Miland Knapp at the University of Minnesota was also considered a pioneer in modern rehabilitation medicine, as he supported the Kenny treatment method for acute polio patients. The Kenny method was subsequently widely adopted in the USA.