Medical Breakthrough for Back Pain -- The McKenzie Method – by Dr. Paul Strube A chance observation by a New Zealand physical therapist is being called a major discovery by medical doctors, physical therapists, and chiropractors alike. Those who suffer with back and neck pain are benefiting from this discovery -- as patients learn how to quickly, and inexpensively treat their own back and neck pain.
McKenzie vs Chiropractic I went to chiropractic college because a chiropractor helped me with my low back pain. But manipulation never gave me more than temporary relief.
Robin McKenzie’s accidental discovery Here’s what happened – A patient with low back and right leg pain that McKenzie had treated unsuccessfully for three weeks came into his clinic as usual one day. As usual the patient was told to lie face down on a treatment table and rest for a while. But for some reason that day, the patient chose that day to lie face down on a treatment table with the top half of the table raised, arching his low back! McKenzie came into the room a few minutes later and was shocked when he saw the patient lying in this position. He was even more shocked to hear the patient report that his leg pain and most of his low back pain was gone! The patient reported that while lying in this position, the pain that was in his right leg to the knee started moving up and out of his leg. By the time McKenzie came in the room, the patient’s leg pain was completely gone, and his low back pain was greatly diminished – he felt better than he had in three weeks! The patient got up off the table and his leg pain did not return. The next day McKenzie had the patient lie face down with his low back arched once again. And within a few minutes the remainder of his low back pain went away! Guess what most people can do to get rid of low back pain on their own! For many people it is as simple as that.
Curiosity and my own chronic low back pain overcame my resistance. I tried the basic McKenzie techniques for the low back – doing backbends and sitting with a lumbar roll to protect the curve (“lordosis”) in my low back when I sit. And it worked! I still get low back pain from time to time, but it is no big deal anymore – I quickly get rid of it on my own by doing a few pressups or backbends, and being careful to use a lumbar roll whenever I sit. Industry has discovered McKenzie works!
The patient who accidentally Treated His Own Back Most of my classmates in chiropractic college thought nothing of my frustration at needing a manipulation at least once a week – “Don’t you want your patients to return for adjustments on a regular basis?” I did not have much chiropractic business sense so I responded, “No. I did not like that as a patient, and I do not like it now. God did a better job of making my body than to need to go to a chiropractor once a week, or once a month for the rest of my life. We are missing something.” In a chance observation of my own, I learned about McKenzie techniques. At first I was offended by the idea that patients could treat their own back or neck pain, thinking, “Excuse me? I am spending a lot of money going to chiropractic college to learn how to treat back pain. What’s the big idea – that people can learn how to treat their own back and neck pain on their own and not need me?”
Save A Back is a company that teaches McKenzie techniques to the employees of major corporations. They have taught the basic McKenzie techniques to over 300,000 employees of corporations such as Exxon, Amoco, Georgia Pacific, Frito Lay, General Electric, Lockheed, and others. Various companies are reporting 50-90% reductions in the number and overall cost of back injuries as the result of employees learning how to treat their own back and neck pain using these simple techniques. Using simple repeated movements of the neck and low back, and by learning how to use good sitting posture, most people can abolish their own back and neck pain very rapidly – including pain into the arms or legs that is usually associated with a disc injury. In fact, it is the disc that McKenzie incriminates as the source of most back pain that is significant enough to go to a doctor. Why backbends relieve pain Between each vertebra (the bones in your back) is a disc. A disc functions like a shock-absorber and allows you to bend in various directions. Discs are made like a jelly donut – there is a jelly-like substance in the center of each disc.
Injury to a disc creates a crack in the disc, allowing the jelly to seep into the crack, causing back or neck pain. Sometimes pain, numbness or tingling will also be felt into an arm or leg. When a disc is injured, the crack in the disc can be in any direction. But usually the injury is to the back side of a disc. The reason why most disc injuries are to the back side of a disc is simple – nearly everything we do involves forward bending. We bend forward to put on our clothes, brush our teeth, pick up children, lift things at work, and we sit slouched for hours and hours every day. Rarely do we ever bend backwards to compensate for all of this forward bending! Slouched sitting and excessive forward bending squeezes the front side of our discs, putting backward pressure on the jelly in the center of the disc day after day, year after year. Finally you bend over and pick up a paperclip and get nasty pain in your back, buttock, or even down the leg. It wasn’t the paperclip – that was merely the straw that broke the camel’s back. That’s the bad news. The good news is that most of us can abolish our own back or neck pain by simply “putting it in reverse” – by doing pressups and backbends, by doing repeated movements in the opposite direction. Trying McKenzie techniques on your own Most people can get rid of their own pain by performing the basic McKenzie techniques, as I did – which is why I suggest that you try it on your own first. Detailed instructions and video clips of how to perform the basic McKenzie techniques are available online at Treatyourownback.com. Some people need a coach to get the best results. If you cannot get rid of the pain on your own, don’t be quick to conclude that McKenzie techniques are ineffective for you.
Vert Mooney, MD, Professor of Orthopedics at the University of California, San Diego, is one of the most well-known and respected orthopedic surgeons in the country. In a study that Dr. Mooney conducted on the McKenzie Method, 95% of the patients were treated successfully – it almost always works! If trying the basic McKenzie techniques on your own does not work, go to a credentialed McKenzie therapist to help you. It is not expensive, even if you don’t have insurance, because the results are very rapid. In a study of 319 consecutive patients treated by Wayne Rath, PT, a former faculty member of the McKenzie Institute, the average number of office visits per patient was only 6.6 visits! If you try the basic McKenzie techniques on your own, but your pain does not respond, go see your doctor, because sometimes back pain is actually caused by something more serious. Good results for even chronic patients Soon after my first McKenzie seminar I saw a worker’s comp patient who had been off work for over a year. She had been to a family practice doctor, an orthopedic surgeon, chiropractor, neurologist, and a physical therapist. She had had medication, manipulation, hot packs, ultrasound, electrical stimulation, steroid injections, an MRI, a bone scan, and a myelogram – at a cost to the insurance company of over $30,000, but without relief. In less than 10 visits using McKenzie techniques that I had just learned, I released her to return to work pain free. The patient and the insurance adjuster were amazed – so was I! Results like this are common.
Locating a credentialed McKenzie therapist to help you There are now 2,500+ healthcare providers across the country and around the world who are fully trained and credentialed by the McKenzie Institute who can be located by going to mckenziemdt.org. The McKenzie Method uniting PTs, DCs, and MDs Surgeons and family practice doctors, chiropractors and physical therapists are embracing a new method of treating back and neck pain – and we are making new friends in the process. As Ron Donelson, MD, an orthopedic surgeon associated with the McKenzie Institute observes, “This method is so effective, that instead of the usual professional rivalries, those of us who use the McKenzie Method are working together to share this valuable information with others.”
About the author Paul Strube, DC was credentialed by the McKenzie Institute in 1994, and has retired from seeing patients. Dr. Strube reviews medical records for attorneys and insurance companies, serves as a medical expert witness in court cases, and promotes McKenzie techniques to companies, organizations, and the general public through his website Treatyourownback.com.
