OMPT History

Where did it come from?

In 1991 Orthopedic Manual Physical Therapy (OMPT) first emerged in the United States as a practice pattern in the scope of physical therapy. Various international leaders in the field of manual therapy met at Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan, to assemble a fundamental approach and find a common thread to which the manual practice patterns in the US could be developed and promoted. Instrumental leaders and developers in the manual therapy field such as Freddy Kaltenborn and Olaf Evjenth from Norway came together to form the American Academy of Orthopedic Manual Physical Therapy (AAOMPT). Together Kaltenborn and Evjenth developed the KE System, a comprehensive approach linking the patient’s symptoms to the functional and structural pathologies. Kaltenborn and Evjenth were influential in the development of the only academic based OMPT program in the US applying the KE methodology at Oakland University. Both Kaltenborn and Evjenth have written books expanding manual physical therapy into what it is today.