SpineOne™ Solutions
McKenzie Method®
McKenzie Method ®
The McKenzie Method®, also known as Mechanical Diagnosis and Therapy®, is a scientific approach involving active patient participation and education of back and neck problems. The McKenzie Method empowers patients by allowing self-care and return to normal function. It is a unique, trusted method practiced throughout the world giving people the power to control pain.
A reliable and valid diagnosis and problem correction can be achieved, states research, when patients are evaluated by a certified McKenzie clinician. Three steps help achieve a successful outcome:
Step 1: Assessment
First, we assess the patient’s medical history and conduct a thorough physical examination. The certified McKenzie clinician makes a mechanical or non-mechanical diagnosis based on these distinct patterns and responses, the most common and important response being centralization. Centralization is a patient’s referred or radiating pain that promptly reverses, returning to the back, then usually abolishing. Patients with back or neck pain, but no pain in the leg, thigh, buttock, arm or shoulder, often see symptom improvement. Centralization is extensively studied in scientific literature and considered a reliable diagnostic tool and valid prognostic factor. We can determine if mechanical therapy is appropriate 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. For articles published on the McKenzie Method, visit mckenziemdt.org/libResearchList.cfm.
