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Professor Vladimir Janda 1928–2002
OBITUARY
Professor Vladimir Janda 1928–2002 Professor Vladimir Janda passed away on November 24, 2002. His contributions to musculoskeletal health care practitioners worldwide cannot be overestimated. He changed the way we all think. He showed us how to see beyond whether a muscle was merely strong or weak. Instead to identify how the body compensates in often subtle ways to maintain stability. His teaching was a labor of love for which he sacrificed everything. As his post-polio syndrome took hold he refused to slow down. Now, more than ever it is clear what stature he assumed and how resonant his message is. As a young sportsman, he contracted the devastating disease polio in his teens, and yet went on to become a great neurologist specializing in musculoskeletal disorders. He is considered the ‘father of Czech rehabilitation’ in Prague, where he chaired the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine of the Charles University
Hospital. This is where much of his research, training, and clinical practice took place. He saw that muscles which tended toward spasticity in children with cerebral palsy, and muscles which tended toward paralysis in stroke or polio, had similar patterns of weakness or tightness to those found in sedentary or injured individuals. His ability to identify muscle imbalances has spurred research throughout the world on the deep spinal stabilization system, propriosensory training, and sacro-iliac instability. A trailblazing leader of both the International Federation of Manual Medicine and the International Federation of Manual Therapists, Professor Janda was able to transmit his ideas equally well to scientists, medical physicians, physical therapists, chiropractors, and other manual therapists. His goal was always to improve the quality of patient care. He tirelessly taught in every corner of the world from the
Middle East, to the South Pacific, throughout Europe, in Africa, and in all the Americas. His legacy is that he leaves behind legions of practitioners who owe their model of care to him. Professor Janda is survived by his wife Jana, and sons Vladimir and Jan. He was born in Prague, Czech Republic in 1928, graduating medical school at the Charles University in 1952. He became specialized in both Neurology, and Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. In 1983, he became a full professor of the Medical Faculty at Charles University. He published nearly 200 papers, and his book ‘Muscle Function Testing’ was translated into four languages in numerous editions. He served as an advisor to the World Health Organization (WHO) and helped prepare the Third WHO report on rehabilitation in 1981 in Geneva.
........................................... Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therapies (2003) 7(1), 66 doi:10.1016/S1360-8592(02)00110-9 S1360-8592/03/$ - see front matter
66
J O U R NAL O F B O DY WO R K A N D MOV E M E N T TH E R API E S JANUARY 20 0 3
Craig Liebenson DC
Professor Vladimir Janda 1928–2002 Professor Vladimir Janda passed away on November 24, 2002. His contributions to musculoskeletal health care practitioners worldwide cannot be overestimated. He changed the way we all think. He showed us how to see beyond whether a muscle was merely strong or weak. Instead to identify how the body compensates in often subtle ways to maintain stability. His teaching was a labor of love for which he sacrificed everything. As his post-polio syndrome took hold he refused to slow down. Now, more than ever it is clear what stature he assumed and how resonant his message is. As a young sportsman, he contracted the devastating disease polio in his teens, and yet went on to become a great neurologist specializing in musculoskeletal disorders. He is considered the ‘father of Czech rehabilitation’ in Prague, where he chaired the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine of the Charles University
Hospital. This is where much of his research, training, and clinical practice took place. He saw that muscles which tended toward spasticity in children with cerebral palsy, and muscles which tended toward paralysis in stroke or polio, had similar patterns of weakness or tightness to those found in sedentary or injured individuals. His ability to identify muscle imbalances has spurred research throughout the world on the deep spinal stabilization system, propriosensory training, and sacro-iliac instability. A trailblazing leader of both the International Federation of Manual Medicine and the International Federation of Manual Therapists, Professor Janda was able to transmit his ideas equally well to scientists, medical physicians, physical therapists, chiropractors, and other manual therapists. His goal was always to improve the quality of patient care. He tirelessly taught in every corner of the world from the
Middle East, to the South Pacific, throughout Europe, in Africa, and in all the Americas. His legacy is that he leaves behind legions of practitioners who owe their model of care to him. Professor Janda is survived by his wife Jana, and sons Vladimir and Jan. He was born in Prague, Czech Republic in 1928, graduating medical school at the Charles University in 1952. He became specialized in both Neurology, and Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. In 1983, he became a full professor of the Medical Faculty at Charles University. He published nearly 200 papers, and his book ‘Muscle Function Testing’ was translated into four languages in numerous editions. He served as an advisor to the World Health Organization (WHO) and helped prepare the Third WHO report on rehabilitation in 1981 in Geneva.
........................................... Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therapies (2003) 7(1), 66 doi:10.1016/S1360-8592(02)00110-9 S1360-8592/03/$ - see front matter
66
J O U R NAL O F B O DY WO R K A N D MOV E M E N T TH E R API E S JANUARY 20 0 3
Craig Liebenson DC