*** Welcome to piglix ***

Hans Kraus


Hans Kraus (November 28, 1905 in Austria-Hungary to March 6, 1996 in New York City) - physician, physical therapist, mountaineer, and alpinist - was a pioneer of modern rock climbing, as well as being one of the fathers of sports medicine and physical medicine and rehabilitation. Kraus was elected to the U.S. National Ski Hall of Fame in 1974.

Born in the future nation of Italy, then a part of the 1867-1918 Austro-Hungarian Empire, Kraus attended medical school in Vienna in the 1920s, against his fathers' wishes, becoming an orthopedic surgeon. Through his subsequent practice he developed a philosophy of treatment at odds with traditional medicine of the time. He would evolve this method, called "immediate mobilization", over his entire medical career. Passing his medical exams in New York, Kraus continued developing unique methods of fracture treatment, applying them to all kinds of athletes. He became especially well known in skiing circles.

In the 1950s, Kraus was behind a push by the Appalachian Mountain Club to regulate climbing in the Shawangunks, and to install a safety code to prevent climbing accidents. This safety code led to conflicts with Lester Germer and The Vulgarians, and was later abandoned.

Kraus warned Americans that children were not getting enough exercise and were watching too much television. Along with Bonnie Prudden, he campaigned for better physical exercise programs for children, and authored several books on exercise, sports medicine, and physical therapy. Eisenhower championed Kraus and his campaign to get Americans to exercise. However, by 1957, it was clear that Kraus was unsuccessful. Kraus was broadly opposed by the AMA and gym teachers (who felt Kraus was disparaging to their leadership) and many Americans, as Sports Illustrated reported in 1957, who worried that mandatory exercise programs for children would "Hitlerize American youth."


...
Wikipedia

...