THE MCKENZIE METHOD and LOW BACK PAIN
The McKenzie Method of helping to categorize, treat and resolve back pain started in New Zealand 40 + years ago when a patient with excruciating back pain was asked to lie down on his front for 20 minutes and to wait until the attending physiotherapist could get time to see him.
What neither the physiotherapist or patient knew at this time was, the fact that, the bed the patient was asked to lie on was not flat, in fact it was curved, the significance of the surface of the plinth was elevated making a slight curve so that the patients head and shoulders were curved upward and away from the waist.
When the physiotherapist (Robin McKenzie, now the worlds most well known physiotherapist today) eventually got to see the patient he stood up and said that the pain had left his lower leg and he was able to stand erect for the first time in two days.
McKenzie used this single episode to initiate a revolutionary approach to the classification and treatment of low back pain.
He revolutionized the treatment of low back pain by using the phrase “ Treat your own Back” to transfer the emphasis from a therapist dependant relationship, where the physiotherapist, doctor, osteopath, chiropractor was in charge to one where the patient “ Treated their own Back” and took charge by changing their posture and repetitively did a variety of prescribed exercises to alleviate and reduce chronic and acute back pain.
The basic self-help approach is now used world wide as front line and proven approach to assisting and reducing low back pain.
Robin McKenzie has sold more the 20 million copies of “Treat Your Own Back” since; it is the biggest selling self-help book in the world.
Bay Active Physiotherapy staff have post graduate skills in the implementation of the concept and protocols which have been proven in many clinical trials as the best approach to patient centered, back pain resolution.
When the low back is stressed excessively from either repetitive low level loads or an acute load the disc “bulges outward. It may go forward, backward or sideways. The result is the same “PAIN!@!
The terms that are used to describe it are disc prolapse, sciatica, putting back out, lumbago, etc,
If allowed to get out of control or not treated effectively the only course is surgery and month of inconvenience, pain, loss of sleep, income, multiple medical visits, medication, scans, injections and stress.
Bay Active Physiotherapy uses the McKenzie Method every day in their practice.
Research has been shown that in some instances the McKenzie approach and assessment is 100% effective at identifying if there is a disc prolapse present before MRI.
Bay Active Physiotherapy staffs are recognized experts, in treating back pain and have a wide variety of techniques, which we can call on to manage low back pain.
McKenzie treatment techniques and home exercises have been shown by research to have faster, better and more long lasting outcomes for resolving low back pain.
Recently there has been a more comprehensive effort at defining and categorizing of back pains to make the treatment of them more effective.
Adjectives used include
Bay Active Physiotherapy uses the most up do date research and information to stay at the forefront of what is most effective in resolving these problems.
What is different about the McKenzie approach?
The patient does all the work!
This is not the whole story but essentially the patient in empowered to ‘self-manage’. The Bay Active Physiotherapist is trained to assess the response of the body to movement in different directions. The response enables the PHYSIOTHERAPIST to create a diagnosis of the
Instead of the therapist doing all the work and the patient lying there being passive we reverse the roles.
We show you how to position your body in the appropriate positions and to repeat the positive repetitive movements, which achieve immediate pain relief.
The great beauty of this system is that you are given a toolbox of exercises which you are able to take home with you and utilize, ultimately giving the patient a much more rapid resolution of your pain and problems than waiting for your next appointment, this is called ‘patient empowerment’ and is much more powerful than being therapist dependant.
Not only is the McKenzie approach to low back pain the most clinically reliable method of diagnosing lower back disc pain, is also the most recommended method in International and National Clinical Guidelines for Low Back Pain |
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