The Cyriax contribution to manipulation

Abstract

It is appropriate in such a volume to identify the contribution of James Cyriax (1904–1985), the more so as he became an Honorary member and the first Fellow of the British Association of Manipulative Medicine in 1975. That James Cyriax, truly the father of orthopaedic medicine, was a genius and became a legend in his own lifetime might tend to be forgotten on a stage such as this when a spectrum of learned opinion (by the very essence of the subject) often holds diametrically opposite views. It is of some significance perhaps that, of all the principles, concepts and doctrines emblazoned by Cyriax across the field of orthopaedic medicine, the topic I have been asked to address is his contribution to manipulation. Meantime we have digested and accepted into common usage his other radical concepts, such as:

• (1) The differentiation between inert and contractile tissues in soft tissue lesions;

• (2) The establishment of exact localization of tissue injury in the majority of cases of ‘fibrositis’;

• (3) The capsular pattern of joint injury;

• (4) The nature of referred pain: segmental and extrasegmental.