Karel Lewit

Karel Lewit (April 25, 1916, Ljubljana, Slovenia – October 3, 2014, Prague, Czech Republic) was a Czech physician who specialized in neurology, and who became a world authority in myoskeletal medicine. Along with his friends and colleagues Vladmir Janda and Václav Vojta, Lewit pioneered modern diagnostics and manual therapy of musculoskeletal disorders in Czechoslovakia.

Early life and education

At the end of World War I, Lewit’s father, Dr. Egon Lewit, moved the family to Prague, where Karel was educated and became immersed in Czech culture. At the completion of his primary studies, Karel enrolled in the Prague Medical Faculty and began his studies to become a physician like his father.

Like many of his contemporaries, Lewit’s education and career were disrupted by the [...] occupation and WWII. The family’s Jewish heritage put them at odds with conditions in the Czechoslovakia, and on March 13, 1939, they left Prague for Paris, where Karel found work at Bichat hospital in their surgery department.

Not long after arriving in Paris, Lewit became involved with the French Resistance, and in October 1939 he joined the British 1st Infantry Regiment in Agde, France on the Mediterranean as a medical officer. As France was overrun by Nazis, The 1st Infantry fought the Germans along the Seine and Loire rivers as French and British troops retreated. He was later transferred to England, where he met his future wife Iris, to whom he remained married for more than 60 years. He worked in England until 1944, when he was transferred to Normandy as a member of the 1st Czechoslovak Armoured Brigade and fought in the famous Battle of Dunkirk. He was awarded the distinguished Golden Cross of Czechoslovakia for his activities in the Resistance.

At the end of World War II, Lewit returned to Czechoslovakia to take up his studies once again at the First Faculty of Medicine, Charles University in Prague earning a doctoral degree in 1946.

Career

Beginnings of Lewit’s Career in Neurology and Rehabilitation

After the completion of his studies, Lewit began to pursue the field of neurology, and he joined the neurological clinic of prominent neurology professor Kamil Henner. There, Lewit focused on spinal and disc disease and became interested in neuroradiology (scanning by X-ray).

As a spinal neurologist, Lewit explored manual manipulation techniques used by chiropractors and holistic practitioners, and began to apply his knowledge in the rehabilitation of patients. As he grew increasingly adept at using manual techniques for clinical diagnosis, he dismissed the escalating use of technological diagnostic tools, insisting that they were mere complements to diagnosis, and inferior to hands-on clinical examination.

Lewit began to promote the unique treatment methodology of manipulation therapy through lectures and the training of doctors around the globe. Lewit wrote the first textbook of manipulation therapy, Manipulative Therapy in Rehabilitation of the Locomotor System, which has since been published in many editions and languages.

The Prague School of Rehabilitation

In the 1950s, Karel Lewit, along with professors and key neurologists Vaclav Vojta, Vladimir Janda, and Frantisek Vele, established the Prague School of Rehabilitation and Manual Medicine, laying the foundations for the 20th century rehabilitation movement. The school’s neurodevelopmental and rehabilitation principles are only recently being embraced globally by athletic trainers and physical therapists for their effectiveness in restoring functional movement and enhancing performance.

The premises of the Prague School are based on the skill of observing total body movement patterns and understanding how they influence the entire kinematic chain. Lewit described the importance of identifying and treating the major mechanical failing in the kinematic chain for a given movement, often located far from the pain site. He understood that overly tonic or overly lax muscles in key areas could affect whole body movement mechanics and cause pain in joints, muscles and nerves farther along the chain. Today, the Prague School model has been further developed by Pavel Kolár with his system of Dynamic Neuromuscular Stabilization (DNS), based upon three levels of motor organization.

Some attribute the success of the Prague School to its relative isolation during the Cold War, where it was unaffected by innovations in technology and evidence-based approaches to treatment. Western medicine has been slow and reluctant to accept the methods promoted by the Prague School, which deviates dramatically from trends in Western medicine toward greater use of pharmaceuticals, surgical interventions and diagnostic technology.

1968 to 1990

In 1968, the Department of Hygiene of the Medical School nominated Dr. Lewit for a professorship, but his nomination was frozen when the Warsaw Pact went into effect and Czechoslovakia was invaded by the Soviet Union. Due to his anti-Soviet stance,Lewit was forced to leave the Neurology Clinic and found temporary employment at the Research Institute for Rheumatic Diseases, and later with the Railway Workers Clinic in Prague. He became a professor only after the Velvet Revolution in 1990.

1990 to 2014

Lewit returned to the Neurology Institute in 1994. From 1996 to 2012, he worked with Pavel Kolář at the Motol Rehabilitation Clinic, then at the Malvazinky Rehabilitation Institute, the Zličín Center for Physiotherapy in Prague and the Center for Complete Care (CKP) in Dobřichovice, where he lived. In 2006, Karel received an honors degree at the Medical University of Łódź in Poland.

Lewit remained professionally active until his death in 2014 at age 98.

Family

Karel Lewit was married to Iris Urwin Duddridge, a linguist and translator from Wells. They had four children; one son, who died as a result of an accident at age 14, and three daughters, Anita (chemical scientist), Jana (mezzo-soprano) and Helena (physical therapist), and four grandchildren.

Trivia

In 1997, a minor planet was discovered by Lenka Kotková as a part of Ondřejov Observatory research. The object was named after Karel Lewit.