Elizabeth Kenny

Elizabeth Kenny
Elizabeth Kenny in 1950
Born	(1880-09-20)20 September 1880 Warialda, New South Wales
Died	30 November 1952(1952-11-30) (aged 72) Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia
Nationality	Australian
Other names	Lisa
Citizenship	Australian
Occupation	Nurse

Elizabeth Kenny (20 September 1880 – 30 November 1952) was an unaccredited Australian nurse who promoted a controversial new approach to the treatment of poliomyelitis. Her findings ran counter to conventional medical wisdom; they demonstrated the need to exercise muscles affected by polio instead of immobilising them. Kenny's principles of muscle rehabilitation became the foundation of physical therapy, or physiotherapy.

Her life story was told in the 1946 film Sister Kenny. She was portrayed by Rosalind Russell, who was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance as Kenny.

Elizabeth Kenny was born in Warialda, New South Wales, in 1880 or 1886, the daughter of Mary (née Moore), a native Australian, and Michael Kenny, a farmer from Ireland. She was called "Lisa" by her family and was home-schooled by her mother before attending schools in New South Wales and Nobby, Queensland. At age 17, she broke her wrist in a fall from a horse. Her father took her to Aeneas McDonnell, a medical doctor in Toowoomba, where she remained during her convalescence. While there, Kenny studied McDonnell's anatomy books and model skeleton. This began a lifelong association with McDonnell, who became her mentor and advisor. Kenny later asserted that she became interested in how muscles worked while convalescing from her accident. Instead of using a model skeleton, since they were available for medical students only, she made her own. From age 18 until her mid-twenties, she worked as an unaccredited bush nurse in the Clifton district. In 1907, Kenny returned to Guyra, New South Wales, to live with a cousin. While there she claimed to receive basic nursing training from a local midwife, but there is no record of her undertaking formal nursing training. She also brokered agricultural sales between Guyra farmers and northern markets in Brisbane. She was not a member of a religious order; in some Commonwealth nations, the title "sister" is applied to senior qualified nurses and does not necessarily indicate a religious vocation.