…Maitland’s emphasis on very careful and comprehensive examination leading to the precise application of treatment by movement and followed in turn by the assessment of the effects of that movement on the patient, form the basis for the modern clinical approach. This is probably as close to the scientific method as is possible within the practice of physical therapy and serves as a model for other areas of the profession – Professor Lance Twomey.
Geoffrey Douglas Maitland has been described as a visionary, a master clinician and communicator, a thinker and innovator, a political activist, and an extraordinary mentor. But probably his greatest international legacy is the pioneering work in establishing a system of assessment and manual therapy management of individuals with musculoskeletal conditions, which he began to develop in the early 1960s and continued to develop over his lifetime’s work.
After travelling to England to study the medical and osteopathic leaders of that time Maitland developed a unique system of assessment and management. It emphasised the need to understand the patient and their pain, its nature, behaviour and irritability. Quite uniquely, he developed a system of graded application of passive movement which was used to modulate pain.
His integrated approach to assessment and treatment of the patient, demanding precise communication and questioning, careful assessment and, vitally, re-assessment after treatment, and the integration of scientific knowledge with the clinical decision-making process still underpins the practice of high quality manual therapy. Whilst commonplace today, these approaches were revolutionary in their time, for a profession that had been so medically directed previously.
Maitland was a dedicated teacher, giving over 30 years of service to education locally, nationally and internationally at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. His texts on vertebral and peripheral manipulation and their revised editions were the foundations for teaching. He very much advocated for musculoskeletal physiotherapy in the wider health field and, notably, his first two publications were in the Medical Journal of Australia in 1957 and 1961.
With a vision and passion for the growth and development of the physiotherapy profession he taught the first postgraduate certificate courses in spinal manipulative therapy in 1964. He saw the need to introduce postgraduate programs in manipulative therapy into tertiary institutions, so that students gained appropriate training, qualifications, and recognition of skills. The first courses ran in 1974 and now there are postgraduate masters programs in musculoskeletal physiotherapy in many countries around the world.
Maitland played a key role in the establishment, in 1966, of the Manipulative Therapists Association of Australia which has now evolved into Musculoskeletal Physiotherapy Australia. And as early as 1967, he was meeting with other international figures to discuss the formation of an international association for manipulative therapy and was subsequently a co-founder of the International Federation of Orthopaedic Manipulative Therapists (IFOMT) in 1974.
Maitland’s contribution to the physiotherapy profession particularly in the field of manipulative and musculoskeletal physiotherapy has left an enduring legacy and the significance of his life’s work is evident today in many quarters of the physiotherapy profession.
Honours
In 1981 Geoff Maitland was awarded Membership Of The Most Excellent Order Of The British Empire (MBE) for his services to the physiotherapy profession. Other honours have included the World Congress of Physical Therapy Mildred Elson Award for International Leadership in 1995, an Honorary Fellowship of the Chartered Society of Physiotherapists, Honorary Life Membership of the South African Society of Physiotherapy, Honoured Membership of the Australian Physiotherapy Association and Life Membership of Musculoskeletal Physiotherapy Australia.
References
https://www.academia.edu/11478321/Geoffrey_Douglas_Maitland_1924_2010
https://www.mskscienceandpractice.com/article/S1356-689X(10)00032-9/fulltext
https://www.imta.ch/en/the-maitland-concept/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3103114/
Whilst I was very happy to stumble across this photo of my father on this page that I had not seen before, I think there might be an error. The name of the gentleman you have in the photo here is of the late Geoffrey Maitland Smith, a Chartered Accountant. As far as I am aware he never remotely went near a physiotherapist, which might explain why he was never too flexible. Might I ask where you got the photo from?!