08 September 2026
World Physiotherapy Day celebrates the contribution physiotherapists make to health and care around the world. For BSR, it also provides an opportunity to look back at the role physical medicine and rehabilitation have played in our own history, and how these early roots helped shape modern rheumatology.
In 1970, the British Society of Physical Medicine became the British Association for Rheumatology and Rehabilitation (BARR). Its new name reflected the growing importance of rheumatology as a distinct medical specialty while keeping rehabilitation firmly within its work.
Alongside this, the Heberden Society, founded in 1936, had established itself as an important organisation dedicated to the study and understanding of rheumatic disease.
These two histories came together in 1983, when BARR and the Heberden Society united to form the British Society for Rheumatology.
More than 40 years later, rheumatology has changed enormously, but supporting people to maintain their movement, independence and quality of life remains central to good care.
Today, physiotherapists are an important part of the rheumatology multidisciplinary team. They work alongside rheumatologists, nurses, occupational therapists and other health professionals to support people living with rheumatic and musculoskeletal conditions.
Looking back at our history shows that rehabilitation and multidisciplinary working are far from new ideas in rheumatology. They form part of the foundations on which our specialty and our society were built.
This World Physiotherapy Day, we’re celebrating the physiotherapists working across rheumatology today and recognising the role rehabilitation has played throughout our history.