SIR HERBERT BARKER

Evening Star, Issue 23372, 15 September 1939, Page 13

SIR HERBERT BARKER

PIONEER OF MANIPULATIVE SURGERY FULL RECOGNITION OF HIS WORK END OF FIFTY YEARS' CONTROVERSY A recent demonstration at the- famous St. Thomas's 'Hospital. Loudon, concluded a remarkable chapter in the history of manipulative surgery, and secured full recognition of the work and perpetuation of the technique of Sir Herbert Barker, who for many years was refused recognition by the medical profession, but who lived and worked to overcome all prejudice and find himself regarded as a “ recognised master." This famous manipulative surgeon struggled for years to gain recognition for the unqualified practice of which he was so great a pioneer, and in July of this year, after a demonstration of his manipulative methods at St. Thomas’s, he was able to say: “ My labours have not been in vain; the battle for manipulative surgery is won.” Bom in Southport, Lancashire, on April 21, 1869, Herbert Atkinson Barker was intended for the legal profession, and was educated to that end. From an early ago he had shown a remarkable aptitude for manipulative surgery, and at the age of 20 years was placed under the tutorship of his cousin, Mr J. Atkinson. He started to practise on his own account in Manchester in 1889. On the death of Mr Atkinson in 1904 he took over the practice, specialising in the correction of abnormalities of the joints by manipulation and the cure of the derangements of kneo cartilages and flatfoot. Although ho performed a large number of successful operations, the medical profession refused to admit him officially to its ranks; a Dr Frederick Axham was struck off the rolls for acting as his anaesthetist. Daring the war of 1914-18 Barker’s offer to give free treatment for joint and bone affections, to officers and soldiers was rejected owing to the opposition of the British Army medical authorities. As the years passed, however, manipulative surgery in all its branches gained wider and wider recognition, and remarkable cures were effected by Barker, whoso patients included such well-known figures as Lord Beatty, the Duke of Kent, John Galsworthy, H. G. Wells, H. A. L. Fisher, Lord Hawke, and among other sportsmen the boxers Carpentier, Beckett, and Peterson. Medical men in increasing numbers/began to realise that, had Barker’s offers to demonstrate Jiis technique been recognised earlier than they were, the general utilisation of this branch of therapeutics would not have been so long delayed. Sir Herbert received his knighthood in 1922 after 300 M.P.s had sent a memorial to the Archbishop of Canterbury and a body of eminent London surgeons had written to the Prime Minister. In 1925 he retired from his practice, but he still treated patients wlTo came from as far away as Africa, India, and Australia. REPORTS ASTONISHINGLY GOOD. Appreciation of Banker’s methods by orthopaedic surgeons first appeared in the ‘ Lancet ’ of January 26, 1937, in the form of case reports and notes by Mr W. Rowley Bristow, orthopaedic surgeon to St. Thomas’s Hospital after Sir Herbert had given a demonstration at tlie invitation of the British Orthopedic Association. In his report Mr Bristow said:— “ Barker possesses a very strong personality. Once he undertakes the treatment of a patient, he does not visualise the possibility of failure. This tremendous optimism must have and does have its effect upon the _ patient. Ho claims for the actual manipulation all -the credit, but some part, and in many instances a large part, of the cure is effected by the man himself. This is no prerogative of Barker or ajiy other expert in treatment. It is possessed by all who are successful. It is a characteristic which. Barker shares with others, but he is quite unconscious of it and has argued with me that it is all manipulation and that his personality plays no part, or at best a very minor one. “ While before the war manipulative surgery was to the great bulk of the profession a very ‘ hinterland of surgery,’ as Barker then repeatedly told ns, perhaps he does not fully recognise that the post-war epoch and the rise of orthopaedic surgery have removed this reproach to medicine (continued the report). Having spent so much of his life fighting for a cause in which ho firmly and justly believed, he fights for it still, and does not quite realise that his battle is won. Orthopaedic surgeons now practise manipulation, as , an essential part of their , speciality. From Barker’s demonstration certain excellent details in his technique will probably be followed. He taught the value of repeated manipulation; the value of traction; the personal supervision and attention to exercising the joint in all directions afterwards; and. above all, I think, the splendid optimism, which is essentially a part of treatment, and a necessary part, in helping those with long-standing disabilities, whose confidence has been rudely shaken by failure of the earlier efforts at cure. It is due to (Barker to say that but for his pioneer work the manipulative field of orthopcedic surgery would not occupy the position it does to-day, and that had his offers to demonstrate his technique been accepted 25 years ago the general utilisation of this branch of therapeutics would not have been so long delayed.” The caso reports are astonishingly good. In one instance a man with a recurrent dislocation of Lis shoulder, who had had trouble for 15 years, and bad been pronounced incurable, reported five days later, “ Cranked a car next day,” and some months later described his condition as “ perfect.” A recent article in the London ‘ Times ’ stated that Barker’s technique bad been perpetuated by a series of films available for distribution wherever there are students of manipulative surgery desirous of benefiting from them. These pictures constitute a permanent record and demonstration of his methods, and in this form his teaching will be available for generations to come. Barker was delighted by this full measure of recognition of his work. It had been a long and hard battle, but, after 50 years of controversy, distinguished orthopaedic surgeons had gladly accepted his offer to teach his technique. MEDICAL PROFESSION’S ATTITUDE. Thus Barker’s work in manipulative surgery secured full recognition. Belated as that recognition was, however, there was more, in the attitude of the medical profession towards Barker’s claims than the unscientific mind might appreciate. A letter by Lord Dawson to the 1 Observer ’ in 1933 perhaps [Hits the case in its true light. *• During the past 100 years.” be wrote, " medicine has espoused and laitMuHy pursued, ihg scientific

method. Has the harvest of knowledge thus garnered been surpassed in any other walk of life? To mention a few examples: Pasteur and Lister gave us aseptic surgery; Koch, Wright, and Leishmau bacteriology and the conquest of typhoid; Munson, Bruce, Ross, and Gorgas showed the Way of deliverance from malaria, sleeping sickness, and other tropical diseases. In more recent days Mackenzie and Lewis have given us new knowledge oil heart disease; Robert Jones on diseases of bones and joints; Hopkins and the Mellanbys on vitamins; Minot on the anaemias; the wonderful role of hormones is now unfolding with implications the extent of which wo can liardly yet envisage. Respect for your space" restrains my theme, but has not enough been said to demonstrate that the science of medicine is on the'.light path? The extension of this path step by step into the unknown will bo diflieidt always, mistaken sometimes, but increasingly fruitful. ‘ Narrow is the way which Jeadotli unto life.’ Does it not follow that if the public is to profit by new knowledge the first desideratum is Sound training of students? Wo are the beat judges of what that training should be. in undergraduate life education is concerned with the basic sciences, the general study of disease in the living arid tho' dead, and'the vital subject of diagnosis. Competency after this training, tested by examination and testified; by medical- qualification, is essential for tho status of a doctor.

“ If the osteopath wishes to escape that test ho has open to him the honourable status which belongs to, say, tho masseur and radiographer. Both the masseur and the osteopath have tho gift of ‘ hands,’ though the Work of the former has a sounder scientific basis than the work of tho latter. Wo welcome the contributions of both to the drt of healing. It needs diagnosis by a qualified doctor to say whether a given case is suitable or not for their treatment, as has been pointed out by Sir Robert M'Carrisou. Tho disasters which sometimes follow osteopathy are duo not to faulty craftsmanship, but its application to the wrong cases. If, on the other band, the osteopath desires the status of a doctor he must pass that test. There can bo no back entrance.”

BARKER A “ FIT ” MAN,

Sir Herbert Barker is himself a flue physical specimen. Writing of him recently, the London ‘Times’ says: “ Ho' looks at least 20 years younger than he is and is confident that ho will remain fit for many more years. He runs every day, even when in London, sprinting and vaulting fences in one of the parks. He says that walking is the best exercise in the world and rates bathing highly. He disagrees that bathing is tiring. ‘ Once, in Spain,’ he said, ‘ between 10 in the morning and sundown I took. 29 separate bathes and never felt so well. I swim for 60 minutes or an hour without stopping.’ Sir Herbert has a house in Spain, near Malaga, from the’ balcony of which ho dives into a swimming pool. Ho left there in July, 1936, a few days before the civil wUr broke out, not knowing that it was coming. He is keen to return there as soon as possible. “ ‘ I wish I were a savage,’ Sir Herbert went on. ‘I always have been a savage at heart, and if ever I became very ill I should go to oile of the South Sea islands, live on a fruit and vegetable diet, and lie on the warm sands in the sun until I was well again. We are all wrong in our way of living. The human animal is the sickest animal of all. We say, “ How do you do?” when it ought not to be necessary. _ We should be doing well all the time. Yet we are never 100 per cent. fit. I fast occasionally and I believe that a reasonable fast, even up to three days, is very beneficial. But simply missing a meal occasionally or even a whole day’s meals can do much good to a person. Sun bathing is wholly good as long as a person does not expose himself recklessly or suddenly. I never feel better than when I am tanned a dark brown.’ ”