The role of the Clinical Interest Group: where to from here?

Abstract

The late Greg Grieve, along with two colleagues, set up the Manipulation Association of Chartered Physiotherapists (MACP) a clinical interest group of the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy (CSP) in 1968. The MACP is the only clinical interest group in the UK with membership of the International Federation of Orthopaedic Manipulative Therapists (IFOMT). Greg’s death in April this year has been an opportunity to reflect on his contribution to manual therapy and to consider the value of a group such as the MACP. This article is a review of the development of the MACP, its role today and our thoughts on the future function of clinical interest groups such as the MACP. Greg played a crucial role in developing manipulative physiotherapy within the UK, having worked with Dr Cyriax at St Thomas’s in the 1950s and 1960s where he also met Geo Maitland. Successful participants of the manipulation courses taught by Greg were invited to join the MACP. These innovative courses gave qualified physiotherapists their first opportunity to study formally after qualification and provided opportunities for continuing professional development (CPD). Greg believed strongly that the supervised clinical practice part of these courses was necessary in order to develop clinical expertise. This is still an essential element of all manual therapy courses that have membership of IFOMT even in the university-based higher degree programmes run today. The MACP remains the only CSP clinical interest group that has entry via examination only and it continues to lead the profession in setting standards of musculoskeletal physiotherapy in the UK. Greg’s vision for the MACP was that the group would be seen as the main focus of manipulation information and skill in the UK and would be looked to for guidance and assistance in these matters. This ethos continues. As well as the setting up of a national group, Greg was also heavily involved in the development of an international collaboration between manual therapy organizations in dierent countries. In 1970 a meeting was held at the World Congress for Physical Therapy (WCPT) Conference in Amsterdam to consider the development of such a group and in 1974 IFOMT was established at a meeting in Montreal, Canada. This set the scene for the development of the profession both nationally and internationally in setting the highest standards of practice, development of a strong evidence base and promotion of manipulative physiotherapy throughout the world.