Physical Therapist Florence P. Kendall

By Matt Schudel
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, February 5, 2006; C11

Florence Peterson Kendall, who had a 75-year career as one of the country's most influential physical therapists and educators and who is in the Maryland Women's Hall of Fame, died Jan. 28 at Sunrise of Severna Park, an assisted living center. Mrs. Kendall, 95, had cancer.

Mrs. Kendall became a physical therapist in the early 1930s, when the field was in its infancy. With her husband, Henry O. Kendall, she practiced in Baltimore for many years, wrote a textbook that remains a standard work in the field and helped gain official recognition for physical therapy as a licensed profession in Maryland. She also consulted with the Army about exercises for soldiers.

In 2004, a survey of American Physical Therapy Association members named Mrs. Kendall the third most influential person in the history of the profession and the highest ranking American. She was the author of eight books, including five editions of "Muscles: Testing and Function With Posture and Pain," which has been translated into eight languages since it was first published in 1949. Its most recent edition came out last year.

She delivered hundreds of lectures across the country, led countless seminars and was considered a role model for generations of physical therapists. She continued working until her death.

Mrs. Kendall, who was born May 5, 1910, grew up on a farm near Mora, Minn., and was a high school physical education teacher after her graduation from the University of Minnesota. She came to Walter Reed Army Medical Center in 1931 to further her interest in therapeutic work.

In 1933, she attended a lecture at Children's Hospital in Baltimore, given by her future husband, already a well-known figure in the field. She soon joined his practice at the Baltimore hospital, and they were married in 1935. Out of professional habit, she referred to her husband as "Mr. Kendall" in public throughout her life.

They wrote several pamphlets on the treatment of polio patients, and in 1936 produced a five-reel film demonstrating methods of care. From 1943 until 1961, they taught body mechanics at the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing. Mrs. Kendall also taught at the University of Maryland School of Medicine from 1957 until 1971.

In the 1940s, she was supervisor of physical therapy for the Maryland State Department of Health, specializing in polio patients.

"It was a very difficult time because nobody knew what caused polio," she said in a 2000 interview with PT -- Magazine of Physical Therapy. "After treating children with polio at the hospital all day, we didn't know if we were exposing our own children to the disease."

At that time, physical therapy was not a licensed specialty. The Kendalls helped draft a bill that established standards and licensing procedures for physical therapists in the state. It was passed by the Maryland General Assembly in 1947.

In 1952, the Kendalls opened one of the first private physical therapy practices in the country, and within a year their Baltimore clinic had more than 1,300 patients. Through books and speaking engagements, they became nationally known in their field.

"We were not on the road to riches but had the great reward of being able to help patients," Mrs. Kendall said. "And the opportunity to help patients was the reason we became physical therapists."

When her husband retired in 1971, Mrs. Kendall became a traveling educator and mentor, particularly to women. She produced a five-volume videotape series on assessing muscular problems and co-wrote a popular book, "Golfers: Take Care of Your Back."

She served on President John F. Kennedy's council on physical fitness, which established exercise standards for schoolchildren. From 1981 until 1995, she was a consultant to the surgeon general of the Army and helped design exercise regimens for military training.

In 1939, she was the first president of the Maryland chapter of the American Physical Therapy Association. In 2002, the chapter named her "Physical Therapist of the Century." Since 1993, the national association has presented an annual award, named in honor of the Kendalls, to private therapists.

Mrs. Kendall donated her books to the University of Maryland's Health and Human Services Library, which dedicated the Kendall Historical Collection in 2000. She received five honorary doctorates and in 2002 was named to the Maryland Women's Hall of Fame.

In the 1940s, while preparing the legislation that led to the licensing of physical therapists in Maryland, Mrs. Kendall became interested in parliamentary procedure. She became an authority on Robert's Rules of Order and a registered professional parliamentarian.

Her husband died in 1979.

A former resident of Baltimore, Mrs. Kendall had lived with her daughter Susan Nolte in Severna Park for the past 28 years.

Other survivors include daughters Elizabeth Kendall McCreary of Honolulu and Florence Kendall Tyler of Baltimore; seven grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren.

Mrs. Kendall, who remained vigorous until near the end of her life, was often asked how she remained fit. Her daughters laughed and said their mother had a simple answer: "Stand up straight and pull in your stomach."

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