What does it involve?
The McKenzie Method®
ASSESSMENT
The McKenzie System begins with the clinician taking a detailed history, focusing on symptoms and how they behave. A patient will be asked to perform certain movements and adopt certain positions. The main difference to most other assessments is the use of repeated movements rather than a single movement. How your symptoms and range of movement changes with these repeated movements provides the clinician with information that they can use to categorise your problem.
CLASSIFICATION
Each type of musculoskeletal problem is addressed according to its unique nature, with specific strategies, including repeated movements, sustained postures, clinician procedures, education and exercise. The McKenzie System is a comprehensive classification system, it allows the trained clinician to distinguish which people have symptoms that will respond quickly, which will have symptoms that respond more gradually, which patients need guidance and education to help manage, rather than resolve their ongoing symptoms and which patients need a referral to their medical provider.
TREATMENT
For the people who have a presentation that responds quickly, the clinician will prescribe specific exercises and provide advice regarding physical factors that improve the symptoms, as well as those that worsen them, and may need temporary modification. Sometimes a qualified McKenzie clinician may need to use hands-on procedures until people can self-manage. The aim is to be as effective as possible in the least number of sessions. Treatment that people can perform five or six times a day is more likely to be effective in a shorter period of time than treatment administered by the clinician once or twice per week. The emphasis is on the person with pain being actively involved, this can minimise the number of visits to the clinic. Ultimately, most people can successfully treat themselves when provided with the necessary knowledge and tools.
Prevention
By learning how to self-manage the current problem, people gain knowledge on how to minimise the risk of recurrence. With a quickly responding problem, people can also rapidly deal with symptoms if they recur, putting the person in control of their treatment safely and effectively. Persisting problems are more likely to be prevented through self-maintenance than by passive care.
There are clinicians trained in McKenzie System in over 35 countries worldwide. The specific management provided must be based on an accurate assessment, thus, finding a clinician who is Credentialled or Diplomaed is important. Find a Clinician near you here.
To enhance your self-management, you may benefit from a McKenzie lumbar or cervical roll, or McKenzie's self-help books: Treat Your Own Back, Treat Your Own Neck, Treat Your Own Shoulder, Treat Your Own Hip, Treat Your Own Knee, Treat Your Own Ankle and Achilles Tendon. These books have helped millions of people worldwide to treat, relieve and prevent their joint and muscle pain. International scientific studies have proven that the information and exercises described in these books gets positive and lasting results.