LEONARD (LEN) RING - Graduate New Zealand School of Physiotherapy - class of 1954

7 July 1972

Supplied by the Otago Daily Times

Evening Star, Dunedin

Prior to undertaking his training at the New Zealand School of Physiotherapy, Len Ring served in the British Army. After graduating in 1954, Len ran a physiotherapy practice in Mt Eden, Auckland, and went on to found and lead the NZ Physiotherapists Private Practitioner’s Association in its early years. In 1972 he was the recipient of a QEII Scholarship which enabled him to gain a MA in Ergonomics at the University of Loughborough, England. On his return to New Zealand, he became a Lecturer in Ergonomics at the School of Architecture, University of Auckland and Lecturer in Industrial Handling for the National Safety Council of New Zealand.
Len had a strong conviction of the need for sound biomechanical principles. By the 1980s the name ‘Len Ring’ was synonymous with television advertisements and films promoting ‘bending the knees’ and ‘keeping the spine straight during lifting.’ In 1993, in recognition of his work in America, he was inducted into the Safety and Health Hall of Fame International at the National Safety Congress in Chicago. Len was the public face for ergonomic spinal care, educating and informing a whole generation of physiotherapists, manual workers and employers on industrial handling, injury prevention and care of the spine. In 1972, he targeted the trade unions in New Zealand, urging them to take a more active role in ergonomics and safer and better working conditions. Here he is in Dunedin addressing waterside workers about safe work practice and the need to protect the spine.