Tonight we bring you news of how Matthew Newton, the UK’s only Maitland Physiotherapy tutor, and a member of our five-strong team here at Blizard Physiotherapy, helped a Maitland Concept physiotherapist in Spain who attended one of his courses to achieve a successful treatment plan for a patient, as a result of applying the clinical reasoning he had learnt with Matthew.

Matthew has just returned from Pontevedra in Spain, where he delivered the third week of a four week Maitland Level 1 course.

It was an exciting week, with one course participant, Carlos, sharing a ‘eureka!’ moment he had experienced with one of his patients, achieved as a direct result of what he learned on the course led by Matthew.

What problem was Carlos treating his patient for?

Carlos had been treating a runner in his clinic who complained of pain over the top of her foot. She had had this pain for a while, but was unable to recall a specific moment where she incurred an injury. The pain was aggravated by running, especially if she strode out or increased her pace.

What difficulties did Carlos have with treating the patient’s foot pain?

When Carlos examined the lady’s foot, he found there was some tightness when the patient turned the foot inwards, and it was sore when he applied pressure to the area. He embarked on treatment to restore the freedom of movement and reduce the sensitivity to pressure. Over the course of several sessions the patient felt no improvement in her symptoms.

Struggling to influence the way the patient’s foot was moving, Carlos then attended the first week of the Level 1 Maitland course, run by Blizard’s Matthew Newton… read on to find out what happened next!

During this first week, Matthew focused on the process of clinical reasoning.

What is clinical reasoning?

Clinical reasoning looks at the thought processes the physiotherapist must explore in order to make sense of the patient’s problem – exploring what possible structures might be at fault, where the true source of the problem may lie, how the effects of movement dysfunction in one area may have an impact elsewhere in the body.

How did the course proceed for Carlos?

During each week of the course, Carlos and his fellow participants see a patient every day, working under close supervision to allow them to implement what they are learning into clinical practice.

How did the course help Carlos revise his thought processes in relation to his female running patient?

On returning to his clinic and reviewing this patient, Carlos began to question his earlier approach of focusing only on the painful area.

Very rarely does ‘X mark the spot’!

He re-examined the patient in a more open-minded way, that allowed him to explore the possibility that the spine and the nervous system may be the true cause of the patient’s symptoms.

He discovered the lower joints of the spine were stiff, and this was having an impact on the nervous system’s mobility, as it extends down into the leg and foot.



How did Carlos then apply this new knowledge, attained from learning more about clinical reasoning?

Carlos treated the lower back to restore the movement that had been lost, and was able to have a positive influence on the way the nervous system could adapt to movement in the leg.

As a result, the lady experienced a greater change from this one treatment session than she had seen in all the previous sessions combined, and it was a pivotal moment for Carlos!

What was the end result for both Carlos and the patient with the foot pain?

Because Carlos had employed the analytical thinking processes learned on the course, both he and the patient reaped the rewards, with the patient being able to run without pain for one hour after the treatment applied to her back.

Carlos’s successful treatment of the lady’s foot problem is a shining example of the power of the Maitland Concept of physiotherapy, whereby Matthew helped him to take a more open-minded approach to the source of her pain, thereby allowing him to discover the true cause of her symptoms.

If you are struggling with a pain that has been bothering you and you have had unsuccessful treatment elsewhere, please do make an appointment with one of our experts, who apply the processes of clinical reasoning to all of their patients, with a subsequent high success rate.