Following on from Caroline Hennigan’s article on the common question physiotherapists are asked: 'What is it that you are doing?', Jenny further explains the beauty of the Maitland concept in this case study, whereby a lady opened up her Reverse Warrior yoga pose, instantly!



Using the Maitland concept within our physiotherapy practice means we are adept at assessing, targeting and treating very specific joint movements, which open up larger patterns of movement.

Here is why.

There are two types of joint movements in the body: physiological movements and accessory movements.

Physiological movements are movements people can perform by themselves. For example, in the lower back you can bend, arch backwards, side bend and rotate, and you can combine all these movements to allow a movement pattern. For instance, in the reverse warrior pose, your back needs to extend, side flex and rotate, all in one go.

To allow these movements to happen there are many different types of accessory movements in all the different joints in the body. These movements are generally called spin, roll and sliding movements in most joints of the body, which allow you to achieve the smoother automatic movements you regularly perform.

In the lumbar spine, the accessory movements are 'gliding' movements of opposing joint surfaces. These movements cannot be performed by yourself but you will soon know about it when these movements are a problem.

When there is an accessory movement dysfunction, you can bend, side bend and rotate all you like, but the very localised individual joint stiffness will highly likely still persist.

In yoga, which is designed to help you move in arcs of movement, you may feel like no matter how much you do, the movement won’t deepen or open up.

This is where 'accessory' joint mobilisations - or 'prodding' as it’s been called by a client - performed by a physiotherapist, can really help.

In the lower back, or lumbar spine, we may decide to apply a pressure centrally on your spine (central posterioranterior movement), apply a pressure transversely so this is across your body (transverse movement to the left or right), (as in the video) or we may apply a pressure on a joint directly to one side, (unilateral posterioranterior movement).

By applying rhythmical and graded pressure to the individual joints in the lumbar spine, we can assess both the amount of movement and the ease of that movement occurring at a specific joint, which enables us to identify the individual joint or joints where the movement dysfunction is occurring.

From restoring the accessory glide, you will be amazed to find how that reverse warrior pose you have been trying to deepen for weeks, suddenly shifts.

In the video above, Jenny is performing a transverse movement as a treatment from right to left on the lumbar vertebrae number 4.

As well as other markers, we would use the 'Reverse Warrior' as a before and after treatment measure of improvement. This is called a functional demonstration, or, more specifically, the movement that you find is a problem.

We hope that you have found this detailed look at what we actually do when we 'prod' at you informative!