Myth buster #1 Is the Maitland® Concept really Old School?
Steffen Klittmann
Spoiler: No. Here is why 👇
A few month ago in one of my courses. First day. Introduction round.
Participant, mid-20s, looking slightly skeptical:
„So… I´m here because my Boss paid the course and said I should learn Maitland. But honestly, I think it’s a bit… old school?“
Another participant nods.
Ouch 😅
Me: “Okay, we need to talk! Tell me why.” 😊
Half of the Level 1 course is now complete. In the last week of the course, he said to me:
“I remain skeptical, but I can't say anything negative so far. Everything is fine.”
That's perhaps the most honest compliment I've ever received.
So let's tackle the question: Is Maitland really old school?
Yes, Geoff Maitland developed his concept in the 1960s. Yes, some of your teachers and professors have probably worked with his concept. And yes, there are newer concepts with cooler names.
But: Calling Maitland old school is like saying, “Anatomy is old school—we've known about it for 500 years.”
Let me show you why the Maitland® Concept is more relevant in 2025 than ever before.
1. Clinical Reasoning = Modern EBP (not oldschool!)
The core of Maitland is NOT the technique.
It is the thinking process.
And that is... drum roll... exactly what modern evidence-based practice requires:
• Individualised examination – every person is different.
• Continuous assessment – "Did it help? No? Then let's change the strategy.“
• Patient-centred treatment – the patient tells you what works and what doesn’t.
• Hypothesis-driven approach – how modern science works.
Does that sound old school?
Nope. It's state of the art.
While other concepts tell you "This technique X helps with problem Y," we say: Think. Test. Adjust. Repeat.
This isn't 1960. It's 2025.
2. Hands-on skills are still in demand (yes, really!)
Do you remember the phase when everyone was talking about pain science?
"Manual therapy is dead!"
"It's all just placebo and laying on of hands!"
"Education > passive intervention!"
Plot twist: Gen Z is now realising that the pendulum has swung too far.
PS: This discussion is repeating itself, take a look at this article: 👇
Jull, Gwendolen, und Ann Moore. „Hands on, Hands off? The Swings in Musculoskeletal Physiotherapy Practice“. Manual Therapy 17, Nr. 3 (2012): 199–200. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.math.2012.03.009.
Patients don't just want:
• A lecture on pain physiology
• An app with exercises
• To hear "Exercise & training is the best medicine" for the 47th time
• Do exercises in the gym
They also want:
• To be touched
• To be moved and mobilised
• To feel that something is changing
• To be treated, not just educated
And you know what? Both are important.
"If we no longer want to touch patients, then another professional group will do it." That's what my mentor once said to me.
And he's absolutely right.
So many patients now go to osteopaths, chiropractors and alternative practitioners as a supplement.
Why? Because they still touch them, perhaps?
Pain Science + Training + Hands-on Skills = Complete Therapist
The Maitland® courses give you the tools of the trade. Literally.
3. „Old but Gold“ is a thing (and for good reason!)
Question: Why has Maitland been around for over 60 years worldwide?
Answer: Because it works.
No fancy marketing promises.
No "this one secret cures everything" nonsense.
Just: If you do it right, it helps people.
For over 60 years. Worldwide. For millions of patients.
That's not called old school.
That's called proven.
Newer ≠ better.
Older ≠ worse.
It's about effectiveness.
And Maitland has that. Deal with it. 💁♂️
4. The Maitland® Concept is constantly evolving (surprise!)
Myth: "Maitland is exactly the same as it was in 1965."
Reality: The concept is constantly evolving.
What has changed:
• Integration of neurodynamics
• Integration of training principles & exercises
• Biopsychosocial framework is the core of the curriculum
• Integration of modern pain science
• Evidence is continuously evaluated
• Teaching methods are being modernised
What has remained the same:
• The systematic thinking process
• Practical skills and "learning to feel"
• Respect for individual variability
This is evolution, not stagnation.
Would you say, "Medicine is old school because Hippocrates started 2400 years ago?"
No, because medicine has evolved.
The same applies to manual therapy in the Maitland® concept.
5. The technique is classic - the approach is timeless.
Let's be honest:
Yes, some mobilisation techniques look the same as they always have. So what?
A PA mobilisation of the lumbar spine is a PA mobilisation.
Whether you do it in 1970 or 2025, the biomechanics haven't changed.
What has changed:
• Why we do it (clinical reasoning)
• When we do it (indications)
• How we combine it (with education, exercise, etc.)
The technique is the tool.
Clinical reasoning is the art.
Comparison:
A surgeon also uses a scalpel like they did 100 years ago.
Does that make surgery old school?
No. Because how they use it has evolved massively.
It's the same for us.
Why Gen Z underestimates Maitland (and what they’re missing)
I understand the initial reaction:
"I know this from my training."
"Sounds complicated."
"Takes a long time to learn."
"Isn't there something quicker?"
But: The best things take time.
Maitland® courses are not weekend crash courses that turn you into an "expert".
It is a model of thinking that you refine over years.
And that is precisely what makes it valuable.
In a world full of:
• Quick-fix techniques
• "This one tape cures everything" videos
• Instagram physios with 3 tricks
• "You just have to do your exercises"...
… Depth is a competitive advantage.
Maitland® courses don't make you an influencer.
Maitland® courses make you a damn good therapist.
Spoiler: patients feel the difference!
What Maitland really gives you (Real Talk)
After almost 20 years of experience in physiotherapy and manual therapy with patients and after 10 years of teaching the Maitland® concept, I can tell you:
The people who benefit the most are those who understand:
• It's not about the technique.
• It's about thinking.
In our courses, you will learn:
• To examine systematically (no wild guesses)
• To test hypotheses (like a scientist)
• To remain flexible (no dogma)
• To involve the patient (shared decision making)
• To evaluate continuously (outcome-oriented)
This is not old school.
This is professional.
Bottom Line
The techniques: Classic
The Approach: Timeless
The effect: Real
Old school?
Nah. Classic. ✨
P.S. To the skeptics
I know some of you are now thinking:
"Typical, a Mailtand® teacher defending the Maitland® concept."
Fair enough.
But: I wouldn't have been teaching something for 10 years that I wasn't convinced about.
I've seen many other concepts.
I have seen trends come and go.
I work with hundreds of patients and therapists every year.
And I see that:
People with a solid Maitland® background have clinical reasoning skills that are second to none. Not because Maitland® is "magical". But because it forces you to think.
And that, my friends, is never old school.
Steffen Klittmann
Physiotherapist, OMPT-DVMT®, IMTA Teacher
On the road in 🇩🇪🇨🇭🇦🇹🇧🇬 to teach
PS: I love giving course participants practical tools to take away with them
Book one of our courses 🤩 Maybe we'll see you there?
Join the discussion:
What do you think? Is Maitland old school or classic?
Comment below or write to me!
#Maitland #Maitlandconcept #Manuelle Therapie #Manual Therapy #Physiotherapie #Physiotherapy #IMTA #Clinical Reasoning #EBP #GenZPhysio
Comments
Newer concepts often shine with \"clean\" cases. The Maitland framework - with its hypothesis categories and its structured clinical reasoning - gives you a way to navigate the messy, multi-factorial patients that don\'t fit any protocol.
Which patients are we talking about? The ones where the scan doesn\'t explain the symptoms. Where the pain behaviour is inconsistent. Where three different therapists have tried three different approaches. These are not edge cases - they are everyday clinical reality.
The hypothesis categories don\'t tell you what to do. They tell you how to think: What is the source? What are the contributing factors? What is the patient\'s perspective? What are the precautions? This structured thinking has been refined since the 1960s - not because it was fashionable, but because it kept proving useful in the clinic, with real patients, session by session.
That\'s where depth shows. And depth doesn\'t have an expiry date.
4. It integrates rather than competes
Therapists trained in Maitland tend to absorb newer approaches more effectively - because they have a thinking structure to hang new knowledge on. The concept isn\'t a competitor to modern pain science or exercise therapy. It\'s a chassis that carries them.
Bottom line: The clinical advantage isn\'t in a unique technique that nobody else has. It\'s in the depth of clinical reasoning it builds — with the patient as the compass, and theory as a servant, not a master.
That\'s not something you can rebrand with a cooler name.
So let me be specific:
1. The \"Brick Wall\" - the patient leads, theory serves
What makes the Maitland concept genuinely unique is the Brick Wall as a mental model: the constant, dynamic interplay between the clinical level and the theoretical level - and the direction matters.
The starting point is always the patient. This person, this presentation, this response to treatment - today, in this session, in this moment. What do I observe? What changes? What doesn\'t?
Theory doesn\'t dictate what you see. It helps you understand what you see.
That\'s the Maitland credo: from practice into theory, not the other way around. New evidence comes in - pain science, neurodynamics, psychosocial frameworks - and it gets integrated. But only when it fits the clinical picture. The patient\'s reaction is always the ultimate test of any hypothesis, however elegant the theory behind it.
Many newer concepts quietly reverse this direction: they hand you a framework and ask you to fit your patient into it. Maitland asks you to do the harder thing - stay with the complexity of the individual, and let that complexity challenge your thinking.
That\'s not a limitation. That\'s clinical mastery.
2. Continuous re-assessment as a clinical standard
The asterisk sign and the principle of \"compare - treat - reassess\" is deceptively simple and profoundly powerful. In a world where many newer approaches offer protocols, Maitland offers responsiveness. Every intervention is a hypothesis test. That is, ironically, more scientifically rigorous than following a fixed algorithm - regardless of how modern-sounding that algorithm is.
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