Many non-physiotherapists have contributed to the advancement of the physiotherapy profession. Primarily they are in the form of other health professionals, like medical practitioners, nurses and exercise therapists, who challenge and progress the technical aspects of physiotherapy. Less well-recognised are the administrators who organise and champion the profession.
At the beginning of this 75th anniversary year of the foundation of World Physiotherapy (formerly the World Confederation for Physical Therapy) we wish to celebrate their first secretary – Muriel Joyce (MJ) Neilson. Neilson was a physiotherapy administrator who contributed significantly to the growth and development of the profession in the United Kingdom and globally.
Before being immersed in the world of physiotherapy Neilson gained varied experience which was of inestimable value during her work. She acted as assistant secretary of the Conference of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, served in public relations with the Institute of Incorporated Practitioners in Advertising, and in medical and allied matters with the General Nursing Council of England and Wales (“Miss MJ Neilson, MBE”, 1964). She was one of the few women to be accepted by the Administration Staff College at Henley, where administrators from the higher ranks of industry and the public service were trained for top-level posts.
Neilson commenced in 1943 as the clerk to the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy’s Council. A powerful character, she caused the honorary Secretary to find her role increasingly eroded (Barclay, 1994). In 1947 as the CSP professionalised its administration Neilson beat 188 other applicants (162 men, 26 women) to become paid Secretary.
During her time the CSP was transformed from a small organisation to one capable of taking its place among the leading professional bodies in Britain. Besides her manifold routine duties as Secretary she steered the CSP along the road to State Registration and remained until this was successfully achieved (“General”, 1961). Neilson was also instrumental in the raising of salaries and served on various councils and committees connected with the Whitley Council for the Health Services, a joint employer-union body that set pay and conditions for most NHS staff.
Internationally, Neilson partnered with the CEO of the American Physical Therapy Association, Mildred Elson, to lead the founding of the World Confederation for Physical Therapy (WCPT) in 1951. Elson, herself a physical therapist, took precedence including the inaugural presidency role, whilst Neilson served as secretary to the provisional committee, and inaugural secretary and treasurer of WCPT (Crompton, 2001). Not least the quantity and quality of her correspondence in an era of manual typewriters contributed significantly to the smooth communication required to unite many disparate national member associations around the world.
Neilson was also awarded significant recognition for the organisation of the first WCPT Congress held in London in 1953, earning the ‘indefatigable’ moniker from the British Journal of Rheumatology (HAB, 1954). Over sixteen hundred delegates from twenty five countries participated and the London congress was declared a great success in the Lancet medical journal (“Physical Therapy Congress”, 1953).
Neilson continued in her WCPT posts whilst concurrently secretary of the CSP, but by 1961 it was evident that with the expansion of the activities of the WCPT that this would no longer be practicable. She accepted the full time paid position of Secretary General of WCPT. That same year Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II bestowed upon Miss Neilson Membership of the Order of the British Empire, for her work while Secretary of the CSP.
The WCPT quickly achieved a highly respected status in international affairs reflecting Neilson’s efficiency and dynamic personality (“Miss MJ Neilson, MBE”, 1964). Within just the first ten years of its existence WCPT was an international non-governmental organisation with consultative status with UNESCO, UNICEF and the World Health Organisation, and collaborated with other international bodies dealing with rehabilitation of disabled and handicapped persons.
Neilson retired from the WCPT General Secretary role in 1971 having worked with four presidents and overseen the growth from eleven national member organisations to twenty seven, and interest expressed from another sixty (Hickey, 1971).
In 1994 when celebrating the CSP’s 100th anniversary, the Board elected to buy MJ Nielson flowers to acknowledge her significant contribution to the society.
References
Barclay J. (1994). In good hands: The history of the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy, 1894-1994. Oxford: Butterworth Heineman.
Crompton S. (2001). WCPT: The first 50 years. WCPT: London.
“General”. (1961). Physiotherapy: Journal of the South African Society of Physiotherapy, September, 8.
HAB. (1954). World Confederation for Physical Therapy. British Journal of Rheumatology, 2(1), 27.
Hickey HK. (1971). Sixth WCPT Congress. Physical Therapy, 51(2), 213–214.
“Miss MJ Neilson, MBE”. (1964). Physiotherapy: Journal of the South African Society of Physiotherapy, March, 2.
“Physical Therapy Congress”. (1953). The Lancet, 262(6786), 609-610.
