The name "Physiotherapist" appeared at the beginning of the 20th century. Until 1957, this name was used as a medical speciality, which was later replaced by Physiatrist, or specialist in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation.
The training of non-medical professionals as physiotherapists began in 1957, through the "rehabilitation courses" created by the Santa Casa da Misericórdia de Lisboa (SCML). The first person in charge of the Physiotherapy course was Miss Anne Cepik, a Physiotherapist from the United States of America (USA), and the first Physiotherapists were trained by professionals from the USA, Denmark and Great Britain.
On 12 November 1960, the Portuguese Association of Physiotherapists was created.
The first physiotherapists trained undertook further training in the USA, and from 1963 onwards, this was carried out by Portuguese physiotherapists. These rehabilitation courses led to the creation of the Alcoitão Rehabilitation School in 1966, as part of the Alcoitão Medicine and Rehabilitation Centre. Also in 1966, Ministerial Order 22034 of 4 June 1966 marked the introduction of the "Professional Title of Physiotherapist" in Portugal.
In the early years of this profession, the dominant lines of training for physiotherapists and the performance of the respective function followed two main lines: At the level of the Santa Casa da Misericórdia, with the creation of the Rehabilitation courses and later the Alcoitão Rehabilitation School, and at the level of the state hospitals, with the creation of the Physiotherapy assistant and Physiotherapist technician courses. Mention should also be made of specific training in the Overseas Territories and in the military.
At the beginning of the 1970s, the health system was restructured by the publication of Decree Law 414/71 of 27 September, which instituted the career of "Technical Therapists", limiting access to professionals with the "Professional Title of Physiotherapist".
In 1977, short-term higher education was created (Decree Law 427-B/77). As a result, the Alcoitão Rehabilitation School was included as higher education training.
Despite the attempt to keep physiotherapy as a higher education qualification, the Technical Schools of the Health Services of Lisbon, Porto and Coimbra were created in 1982, which included the training of physiotherapy technicians. In 1985, the evolution of the professional career replaced the name "Auxiliary Technician for Complementary Services" with "Diagnostic and Therapeutic Technician", which included 18 professions.
The new Physiotherapy syllabus came into force in the 1990/1991 academic year at the Alcoitão Rehabilitation School. In 1993, the Higher Schools of Health Technologies of Lisbon, Porto and Coimbra were created and integrated into the national Polytechnic Higher Education system.
In 1993, Decree-Law no. 415/93 of 23 December integrated physiotherapy into higher education.
From 1999 onwards, the Department of Health Human Resources (now the ACSS) made it compulsory for physiotherapy course holders to be professionally registered.
At the end of the 1990s and the beginning of the century, the number of Physiotherapy Teaching Institutions grew considerably, with 11 being created between 1997 and 2009.
In 2004, the "Report on the Implementation of the Bologna Process at National Level, by Areas of Knowledge - Health Technologies" ( Lopes.A, 2004 ) proposed that the first cycle, in the Bologna model, should last 4 years, corresponding to 240 ECTS.