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A Tribute to the life and work of G D Maitland 1924 to 2010
Geoff and Anne were inseparable. Both of them possessed an unshakable Christian faith and a strong Duty of Care. Anne, invariably, would be present at his lectures, seminars and workshops. She would give him honest feedback on his performance and tell him how he could improve. He would add to this with his own self-criticism. From the outset, they developed a robust internal moderation system to ensure quality control and quality assurance of his work.
A quote by Dr D A Brewerton in the foreword to Maitland’s 1st edition of Peripheral Manipulation [1970] sums up Geoff Maitland’s approach to his work as a Physiotherapist. “Geoffrey Maitland is well aware of the limitations of our knowledge and he is always modest in describing his results. Undoubtedly he is putting forward his own views with humility, hoping to promote discussion so that others can improve on his own suggestions.”
Geoff was a great listener and a great communicator. He placed a great emphasis on the art and skill of listening [as opposed to just hearing]. He would hang on every word his patients would say so that he did not miss the subtle hints from the language or its tone that would help him understand, in depth, what the individual was experiencing. He would use every facet of “the bodies capacity to inform” both verbal and non-verbal. He would spot the almost imperceptible nuances of the patient’s responses to his treatment. Only he would recognise, in a room full of students, the important meaning of a patient drumming his fingers on the couch.
His vision was instrumental in giving us what are now established competencies, including, “Patient-Centred Care”, the use of mobilisation for pain modulation, and an awareness of “the nature of the person” and its impact on treatment. He highlighted the need for deep and broad theoretical knowledge to support and inform clinical practice. He advocated the discipline of evaluating everything we do to prove our worth and with this came the use of patient reported and orientated outcome measures [subjective and functional asterisks] and the demand for accurate recording of treatment and its effects.
Geoff was also at the forefront of research by Physiotherapists for Physiotherapist at a time when it was seen as the role of the Doctor to report on Physiotherapy and decide which Physiotherapy modalities should be prescribed.
Geoff wrote extensively for the Australian Journal of Physiotherapy as well as for other medical and Physiotherapy journals world-wide. He wrote, for example, about “Some observations on Sciatic Scoliosis” in 1961, “The hypotheses of adding compression when examining and treating synovial joints” in 1980 and “Movement of pain-sensitive structures in the vertebral canal in a group of physiotherapy students” also in 1980. Look in any respectable physiotherapy or manual therapy journal and you will see G D Maitland cited frequently. Researchers in manual therapy are still referring back to Geoff’s models for practice and using his descriptions of examination and treatment techniques as their methodological standards.
Geoff was a great believer in quality education for Physiotherapists. In 1965 he ran the first 3 month course on “Manipulation of the Spine” based at the South Australian Institute of Technology in Adelaide. In 1974 this course developed into the one year post-graduate diploma in Manipulative Physiotherapy and subsequently became a Master’s Degree course under the auspices of one of Geoff’s closest colleagues, Dr Mary Magarey.
Geoff always led from the front. As well as being active on various Physiotherapy Committees and Boards in Australia, he was well aware of the much bigger, International, picture and in 1974 was involved in the foundation of International Federation of Orthopaedic Manipulative Therapy [IFOMPT], a branch of the WCPT. IFOMPT’s founders wanted there to be a benchmark for the teaching of manual therapy internationally. The 2008 IFOMPT Educational Standards Document is the culmination of such a demand and forms the basis of manual therapy education programmes in its Member Countries.
The “Maitland Concept” is now a truly global phenomenon. There will not be many National Physiotherapy Associations throughout the World that will not be aware of “Maitland”. Geoff’s classic texts, Vertebral Manipulation, now in its 7th edition and Peripheral Manipulation, now in its 4th edition, are available world-wide and have been translated into several languages including Japanese, Spanish and German. These Physiotherapy books still feature in publisher’s best-seller lists.
The honours Geoff received during his career are a testament to the esteemed regard in which he is held by the Physiotherapy world. Notably he received the MBE in 1981 and The Mildred Elson Award from the WCPT in 1995 for his life’s work.
The legacy of the life’s work of G D Maitland is assured and can be seen developing within the work of others and their organisations. Take, for example, Mark Jones who has taken Geoff’s decision making process and developed it into a structured and evidence-based Clinical Reasoning framework. David Butler and his NOI have taken Geoff’s early research on “pain-sensitive structures in the vertebral canal” and Bob Elvey’s work on “The Upper Limb Tension Test and advanced our knowledge, skills and strategies for dealing with neurogenic and other pain mechanisms. Peter Wells and his colleagues from the MACP were greatly influenced by Geoff’s work and teachings as they followed on from Greg Grieve in shaping the future of Manipulative Physiotherapy in the UK. Gisela Rolf along with Geoff and Peter Wells helped to establish the International Maitland Teacher’s Association [IMTA] which has continued to serve many European Countries with quality Manual Therapy education based on Geoff’s principles and practice.
In summary, G D Maitland supported by Anne and his close family and colleagues has established his place in our Profession’s History. He is the Donald Bradman of Physiotherapists. Sir Donald, a fellow Australian, had a career Test Match batting average of 99.94 and, as with Geoff, many have aspired to reach such a standard but none, to date, have come anywhere near.
With Great Sadness
The Chairman and members of The International Maitland Teacher’s Association
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We
invite you to post here a 
Geoff
Maitland passed away peacefully on Friday 22 january 2010 almost
one year after the death of his dear wife Anne. It is,
therefore, a poignant time for the whole of the Physiotherapy
World to stop and reflect upon the achievements and legacy of a
man who has done as much as anyone to shape and define the
Physiotherapy profession as it is today.
Geoff
was a visionary and an innovator. In the preface to the first
edition of Vertebral Manipulation [1964] he recognises “The
practical approach to the use of manipulation is to relate
treatment to the patient’s symptoms and signs rather than to
diagnosis” and that “……….it is often impossible to know
what the true pathology is………..symptoms and signs [of a disc
lesion] may vary widely and require different treatments”