title: [Scoliotic young girls and orthopaedics in Belle Epoque: the urban surge of mecanotherapy in Lausanne and Geneva].
abstract: In Belle Epoque towns marked by the industrial and medical surge, a new technical therapy, called mechanotherapy, emerged, stemming from Swedish medical gymnastics and auxiliary to orthopaedics. Aiming mostly at treating scoliosis, this therapy by movement attracted a sizeable female clientele to these towns, because of the hygienic and social conceptions feeding collective imagination linked to the bodies of scoliotic young girls. Taking the French-speaking Swiss towns of Lausanne and Geneva as examples, the article first seeks to describe the emergence of mechanotherapy as a medical and urban phenomenon. It then addresses the role played by scoliosis in this orthopaedic practice, and examines the clientele attracted to the towns, among which well-born young girls seem to be predominant.
authors.affiliation: Institut universitaire d'histoire de la médecine et de la santé publique, Lausanne. mariama_kaba@hotmail.com
authors.forename: Mariama
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kaba
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D049672:History, 19th Century; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans; D009985:Orthopedics / Q000266:history* / Q000379:methods; D012600:Scoliosis / Q000628:therapy*; D012923:Social Class; D013557:Switzerland; D014504:Urban Health / Q000266:history*