The influence of the medical profession on Spanish physical education in the 19th and early 20th centuries: Social analysis of the medical indoor gymnastics handbook by dr. Schreber

Medical indoor gymnastics, written by Dr. Daniel Gottlieb Moritz Schreber and published in Spain in 1861, was the first technical-practical book in the Spanish gymnastics field. This handbook was used by doctors, gymnastics educators, and teachers. The numerous editions and the popularity level that it reached make it the most representative and recommended gymnastics book during the 19th century. The aim of the present study is to determine the social scope of the work cited. The methodology is based on a hermeneutical documentary analysis of the original works of the time and, together with other studies in the area of social science, in developing a deconstructivist view of the work in question. We can use this Handbook to discover part of the pedagogical genealogy of gymnastics in Spain and to see how "indoor gymnastics" came to be a device for knowledge and power in the field of medicine and physical education.