Francis Fuller

This article describes the English medical writer. For the American actress, see Frances Fuller .

Francis Fuller (* 1670 in Bristol ; † 1706; also Francis Völler and to distinguish it from his father Francis Fuller the Younger called) was an English medical writer who made a name for himself in the history of exercise therapy.

Francis Fuller was the second son of his father of the same name and his wife Bridget and began his studies at St. John's College in Cambridge in 1687 , where he obtained a BA in 1691 and an MA in 1704 .

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Fuller suffered from severe hypochondria after too intensive external treatment of an itch . The mental anxiety disorder was accompanied by a digestive disorder ( dyspepsia ). He was able to cure his ailments through exercise on horseback (today we would say therapeutic riding ) and through emetics .

This led him in 1704 to a book on movement therapy for the treatment of illnesses, called "Medicina Gymnastica or treatise on the effectiveness of movement exercises in the animal kingdom and the urgent need to use them to heal health problems". He criticized the intake of too many drugs and recommended replacing them with more exercise. The successful work appeared in nine editions by 1777.

Francis Fuller developed the knowledge and suggestions of the "English Hippocrates" Thomas Sydenham (1624–1689), the proponent of fresh air and exercise as a remedy for exhaustion and hypochondria. In cases of restricted or impossible mobility, Fuller was the first to recommend regular massages as an alternative (see also Massage # History ).

literature

• Francis Fuller: Medicina gymnastica or, A treatise concerning the power of exercise, with respect to the animal economy; and the great necessity of it in the cure of several distempers 2nd edition, London 1705, full English version in the Internet archive (PDF; 20.9 MB)
• Norman More: Fuller, Francis (1670–1706) in the Dictionary of National Biography, 1885–1900, Volume 20 (English in en: Wikisource)
• Michael Braumann: The healing power of movement; Treat illnesses successfully with exercise therapy. Heinrich Hugendubel Verlag, Kreuzlingen, Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-720528016
• Arnd Krüger : history of movement therapy. In: Preventive Medicine. Springer Loseblatt Collection, Heidelberg 1999, 07.06, pp. 1–22.

Web links

• Brief presentation of the Medicina gymnastica in the openlibrary

Individual evidence

1. ↑ see literature Michael Braumann: The healing power of movement
2. ↑ see literature Norman More: Fuller, Francis (1670–1706)
3. ↑ see literature Francis Fuller: Medicina gymnastica