Anna Dévény was particularly an outstanding person of movement rehabilitation. In the past 40 years, she had introduced and continuously developed the Dévény Special Manual Technique and Gymnastics Method (DSGM).
She was born in Budapest in 1935. At the age of 10, she started learning artistic gymnastics at the Mészáros Street Art Dance School of Budapest, where she was the student of Éva Kovács. In 1957, she graduated as a physiotherapist from the Hungarian College of Physical Education. Between 1957 and 1967, she worked as a physiotherapist at the Department of Organic Neurology and Psychiatry of the Neurological Clinic of Semmelweis Medical University. Then, between 1967 and 1976, she was the lead physiotherapist of the Department of Organic Neurology at the Szent Imre Hospital in Budapest. Meanwhile, from 1957, she had also taught artistic gymnastics at her alma mater, at the Mészáros Street Art Dance School of Budapest.
In 1970, she became a qualified coach for rhythmic gymnastics. From 1976, as a lead physiotherapist of the Péterfy Sándor Street Hospital of Budapest, she has carried out the movement development training of children with orthopaedic impairments, based on the principles and practices of artistic gymnastics. After many years of hard work, in 1980, she presented her achievements at the TV show Success (Siker) led by the well-known TV host, Tamás Vitray, and won the special award by receiving the most public votes for her work.
From 1990, she has been the lead physiotherapist of the Anna Dévény Foundation. Thanks to her efforts, a real cure for babies and small children with birth defects as well as the uniquely successful rehabilitation of accidental injuries could begin. From July 2015, the National Health Insurance Fund of Hungary provided the DSGM method with an individual procedure code (ICPM), which both means prestigious recognition and financial support from the public.
Between 1994 and 2003, Anna Dévény was the director of the post-graduate training of DSGM-specialized physiotherapy at the Imre Haynal University of Health Sciences and then from 2005 at the Dévény Anna Foundation. Between 1996 and 2016, she also conducted special body trainings for artists of the Hungarian National Ballet at the Hungarian State Opera. Her first book DSGM – New Method in the Field of Movement Rehabilitation was published in 1994. Then, concluding her most up-to-date achievements, a most recent book Dévény-method, the New School of Movement Therapy was launched in June 2017.
For her outstanding professional activities, Anna Dévény received the Batthyány-Strattmann László Award in 2003, the Prima Primissima Award in 2010, a Ministerial Certificate in 2012, while in 2013, she became the honorary citizen of District 1, Budapest. In 2014, she was awarded by the Commander’s Cross from the Order of Merit of the Republic of Hungary, the Pro Familiis Award in 2015, and her DSGM – Dévény Method received the Hungarian Heritage Award of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in 2017.
Zsuzsanna Mézám