Elizabeth Kenny

Elizabeth Kenny (1880 to 1952), known as Sister Kenny, was a self-trained Australian nurse born in Warialda, New South Wales, who developed a novel approach to treating poliomyelitis. At a time when the usual advice was to immobilise affected limbs in plaster casts, she applied hot compresses followed by passive movement of the muscles to relieve what she called spasm. Her approach was controversial and met hostility from much of the medical community, yet her principles of muscle rehabilitation became a foundation of physical therapy for polio, and the source notes that her treatment helped thousands of children around the world. She earned the title Sister while nursing on troop transport ships during the First World War, and she promoted her method in Australia, Europe and the United States. Her life was the subject of the 1946 film Sister Kenny, in which Rosalind Russell played her.