Hans Kraus

[AUTHORITY: WIKIPEDIA]
For other people named Hans Kraus, see Hans Kraus (disambiguation).

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Hans Kraus (November 28, 1905 in Austria-Hungary – March 6, 1996, in New York City) was a physician, physical therapist, mountaineer, and alpinist. A pioneer of modern rock climbing, he was also one of the fathers of sports medicine and physical medicine and rehabilitation and was elected to the U.S. National Ski Hall of Fame in 1974.

Born in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Kraus attended medical school in Vienna in the 1920s, against his father's wishes, becoming an orthopedic surgeon. Through his subsequent practice, he developed a philosophy of treatment at odds with traditional medicine of the time. He would evolve this method, called "immediate mobilization," over his entire medical career. Passing his medical exams in New York, Kraus continued developing unique methods of fracture treatment, applying them to all kinds of athletes. He became especially well known in skiing circles.

Kraus warned Americans that children were not getting enough exercise and were watching too much television. Along with Bonnie Prudden, he campaigned for better physical exercise programs for children, and authored several books on exercise, sports medicine, and physical therapy. Eisenhower championed Kraus and his campaign to get Americans to exercise. However, by 1957, it was clear that Kraus was unsuccessful. Kraus was broadly opposed by the AMA and gym teachers (who felt Kraus was disparaging to their leadership) and many Americans, as Sports Illustrated reported in 1957, who worried that mandatory exercise programs for children would "Hitlerize American youth."