SpineOne™ Solutions
McKenzie Method®
Mackenzie Method®
The McKenzie Method®, also known as Mechanical Diagnosis and Therapy®, is a scientific approach involving active patient participation plus back and neck ailment education. The McKenzie Method empowers patients, giving each individual the ability and tools to self treat and return to normal functioning. This is a unique, trusted method practiced throughout the world, giving people the power to control their pain.
Research suggests patients evaluated by a certified McKenzie clinician can obtain a reliable and valid problem diagnosis and suggestions on problem correction. Three steps help achieve a successful outcome:
Step 1: Assessment
First, we assess your medical history and conduct a thorough physical examination. We test movements and motion to identify pain responses. Your certified McKenzie clinician uses these distinct patterns and responses as a guide to make a mechanical or non-mechanical diagnosis. The most common and important response is centralization, when a patient’s referred or radiating pain promptly reverses, returning to the back then usually dissipating. We can determine if mechanical therapy is appropriate for you on the first day.
Step 2: Treatment
Next, we develop a treatment plan. Unique to the McKenzie Method, patients use self-generated movements based on a directional preference identified when a specific movement direction offers a beneficial response like centralization or pain abolishment. This can occur through flexion, extension, rotation or lateral bending. From this knowledge, we develop a patient exercise program based on our directional preference determination.
Step 3: Prevention
Finally, we support your ongoing pain prevention. Patients that continue to perform their exercise program on a regular basis find decreased episode recurrence and improved functioning. The McKenzie approach also gives individuals lifelong tools to manage their symptoms if a problem should occur again.
“…the McKenzie movement has led the way in undertaking research into its precepts, and has implicitly called upon other concepts in physical therapy to catch up. No other system in physical therapy has attracted as much research both from among its proponents and from its detractors.”
- Nikolai Bogduk MD, PhD, Dsc
For more information on the McKenzie Method, visit www.mckenziemdt.org or contact our office to discuss your situation.
