STUDIES IN HISTORY AND PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE VOLUME 39 General Editor: STEPHEN GAUKROGER, University of Sydney Editorial Advisory Board: RACHEL ANKENY, University of Adelaide PETER ANSTEY, University of Otago, New Zealand STEVEN FRENCH, University of Leeds OFER GAL, University of Sydney NICHOLAS RASMUSSEN, University of New South Wales JOHN SCHUSTER, University of NSW/University of Sydney KOEN VERMEIR, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Paris RICHARD YEO, Griffith University
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STUDIES IN HISTORYAND PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE
VOLUME 39
General Editor:
STEPHEN GAUKROGER, University of Sydney
Editorial Advisory Board:
RACHEL ANKENY, University of AdelaidePETER ANSTEY, University of Otago, New Zealand
STEVEN FRENCH, University of LeedsOFER GAL, University of Sydney
NICHOLAS RASMUSSEN, University of New South WalesJOHN SCHUSTER, University of NSW/University of Sydney
KOEN VERMEIR, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, ParisRICHARD YEO, Griffith University
More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/5671
Roy J. Shephard
An Illustrated Historyof Health and Fitness,from Pre-History to ourPost-Modern World
Roy J. ShephardUniversity of TorontoBrackendale, British ColumbiaCanada
ISSN 0929-6425ISBN 978-3-319-11670-9 ISBN 978-3-319-11671-6 (eBook)DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-11671-6Springer Cham Heidelberg New York Dordrecht London
Springer is part of Springer Science+Business Media (www.springer.com)
Preface
What need is there for a systematic history of health and fitness? Certainly, our
libraries already contain many excellent books that chronicle the disciplinary
history of physical education, athletics and sport, both in North America and in
other parts of the globe. A quick survey reveals at least 14 major texts that discuss
the emergence of Physical Education as a respected academic discipline
(Schwendener 1942; Leonard 1947; Dixon 1960; Weston 1962; Khan 1964;
Hackensmith 1966; Zeigler 1975; Lee 1983; Swanson and Spears. 1996; Welch
2004; Lal and Narang 2006; Zeigler 2006; Tiwatri et al. 2008). Moreover, at least
one of these books is devoted to the appearance of specific physical education
programmes for women (Verbrugge 2012).
There is similarly a plethora of texts about the development of athletics as a
whole and the emergence of individual sports, particularly in regard to key events
in North America over the past 200 years (Michener 1981; Guttmann et al. 1990;
Pope 1997; Rader 1999; Gorn and Goldstein 2004; Gems 2006; Gems et al. 2008;
Park and Vertinsky 2011). In a longer-term perspective, Peter McIntosh has written
several valuable treatises on the social context of sport over the centuries (McIntosh
1970, 1971, 1993). Max and Nancy Howell have looked specifically at the devel-
opment of sports and games in the Canadian context (Howell and Howell 1969),
and Bruce Kidd has explored the sometimes murky waters of the politics of sport
(Kidd 1996).
However, only a few previous authors (Green 1988; Berryman and Parks 1992;
Leavitt and Numbers 1997) have examined interactions between personal fitness
and population health. This hiatus in the literature became apparent to me in 2011
CE, when I agreed to write a series of journal-style historical articles for the
recently founded Health and Fitness Journal of Canada (Shephard 2011, 2012a,
b, c, d, 2013a, b, c, d). My research for this initiative convinced me that the world
archives contained an untapped wealth of fascinating information. The time seemed
ripe to collate this material, and to prepare a definitive illustrated history of health
v
and fitness from the earliest human records to the sophistication of our Post-Modern
Era. I was thus very pleased when Springer Verlag also recognized this gap in our
historical, scientific and medical knowledge, and agreed to work with me in
preparing the present volume.
Although the history of health and fitness is a sadly neglected topic, it seems of
ever-growing importance from the viewpoints of health economics and social
policy. One of the striking paradoxes of our twenty-first century is that although
most nations are devoting an ever-growing fraction of their gross national products
to the support of state-financed and/or private medical services, at the same time
they face a challenging epidemic of obesity and related chronic disease. The current
medical crisis is in part a consequence of population aging, but a second major
cause is that most of the present generation do not engage in that daily volume of
physical activity to which they have adapted constitutionally over the centuries. In
industry, physical labour has been replaced by an ever-expanding demand
for sedentary, computer-oriented employment. In the home, power-operated equip-
ment has been substituted for manually-operated domestic tools. And as we travel
around our communities, an urban sprawl provides little opportunity for walking or
cycling, but requires an ever-increasing period of passive commuting, mainly by
private car.
The remedy seems simple enough – to bring the population of our world’scities back in line with the lifestyle required by their genetic make-up, through a
general increase in their daily physical activity and a resulting enhancement
of personal fitness. The many and extensive health benefits of engaging in
regular exercise were documented during the latter part of the twentieth century,
beginning with the efforts of pioneers such as Jeremy Morris (1910–2009 CE) and
Ralph Paffenbarger (1922–2007 CE), and continuing with our own Fitness
Research Unit at the University of Toronto. Such concepts gained greater prom-
inence and credence through a series of international consensus conferences
held in Toronto from 1988 to 2001 CE (Bouchard et al., 1990, 1994; Kesaniemi
et al. 2001), and through the emergence in 2008 CE, under the auspices of the
American College of Sports Medicine, of a new scientific grouping entitled the
“Exercise Is Medicine Global Initiative.” This movement has two primary goals:
• “To make physical activity and exercise a standard part of a global disease preventionand treatment medical paradigm”
• “For physical activity to be considered by all health care providers as a vital sign inevery patient visit, and that patients are effectively counseled and referred as to theirphysical activity and health needs, thus leading to overall improvement in the public’shealth and long-term reduction in health care cost”
These recent endeavours have brought into global prominence not only the
positive interplay between an individual’s health and his or her level of habitual
activity, but also the need for a well-coordinated and comprehensive community
action plan to encourage the required changes of personal lifestyle.
The present text examines the many facets of the health/fitness interaction in
an historical context, beginning with our knowledge of lifestyle in primitive
vi Preface
hunter-gatherer communities, where survival needs ensured an adequate level of
physical activity, and considering changes in both health and habitual physical
activity at each of the subsequent stages in the evolution of “civilization.” Attention
is directed to the likely health impacts of a growing understanding of Medicine
and Physiology. The progressive emergence of a middle-class is charted,
people with a surplus of both time and money, and the opportunity to choose
between the adoption of active or passive leisure pursuits. The processes of
urbanization and industrialization are considered, coupled with the growing need
for public health measures to augment the physical activity of the population.
At each stage in the course of history, the text explores the attitudes that prelates,
politicians, philosophers and teachers have adopted towards the health and fitness
of society. Finally, we chart and evaluate the emergence of professional and
governmental initiatives designed to increase involvement of the public in adequate
levels of active leisure through various school, worksite, recreational and sports
programmes.
The canvas for this text is broad, and I have personally learned a great deal
through my explorations of the successful and unsuccessful initiatives of by-gone
years. I hope that readers will have a similar experience, and that this detailed
survey of the past will provide them with new ideas for a problem that currently is
by no means resolved.
Brackendale, BC, Canada Roy J. Shephard
2014
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Preface ix
Contents
1 Health and Fitness in Prehistory, Including Inferences
from the Current Lifestyle of Indigenous Populations . . . . . . . . . . 1