Our history

The National Spinal Injuries Centre (NSIC) is the oldest, and one of the largest  spinal injuries centres in the world. It was founded by neurologist Professor Sir Ludwig Guttmann at Stoke Mandeville Hospital, in 1944 to treat servicemen who had sustained spinal cord injuries in World War II. 

Before this, the majority of people with spinal cord injury died from complications within a year of injury. In 1948, Professor Guttmann began using sport as a vital ingredient in rehabilitation programmes and on 29 July organised a competition for 16 paralysed men and women to coincide with the opening ceremony of the 1948 Olympic Games in London.

The Stoke Mandeville Games for wheelchair athletes began and was widely seen as the moment that the Paralympic movement was born.

Professor Guttman received a knighthood in recognition of his contribution to the Paralympics and the ground-breaking techniques in rehabilitation he introduced, and staff continue Dr Guttmann’s revolutionary work to this day.

The experience gained in treating and preventing complications, together with an increase in injuries caused by road traffic accidents, led to a rapid expansion of the centre from an initial 26 beds to 190 beds in the main part of the hospital.

In 1980, severe weather conditions caused structural damage to some of the wards at Stoke Mandeville which housed the centre. With the area health authority unable to meet the estimated repair bill, the centre's future looked in doubt. The implications would have been inconceivable - patients faced the prospect of receiving care in non-specialist hospitals without the welath of expertise and knowledge built up at the NSIC over the years.

Sir Jimmy Savile, at this time working as a volunteer porter at the hospital, set about organising an ambitious fundraising campaign to create a purpose built spinal cord injuries centre. Within three years of the launch, and with the generosity of the public behind him, Sir Jimmy had raised an incredible £10m. The new facilities opened in 1983, and Sir Jimmy, now the NSIC's patron, continues to take an active interest in the centre.