Services - Physiotherapy

McKenzie Method

The McKenzie Method

The Mckenzie method is now one of the most scientifically proven and best established approaches to the diagnosis, to the underlying cause of, and to the effective treatment of low-back and neck pain.

However this was not always the case:

In the mid 1900s, in a small, isolated, rural New Zealand physio clinic a newly qualified Physiotherapist called Robin McKenzie noticed an unusual phenomenon.

The story goes that one busy morning young Robin was dealing with a difficult patient when his receptionist brought in an “emergency” case with screaming low back pain and sciatic pain shooting down his leg. Being already flat-out Robin asked the new “emergency” case to step into the nearest empty cubicle and lie down on the bed till Robin had time to see him.

Unbeknownst to Robin the treatment bed in the empty cubicle had been left with one section in a nearly vertical position. So when Robin went in to see Mr. Emergency a few minutes later he was shocked to see that the patient was lying face down with his head at the elevated end of the bed – the effect of this was to bend his spine backwards in a lying position. Robin immediately went to drop the elevated section of the bed back down to a fully flat position only to be berated by Mr. Emergency. Apparently this position of being strongly arched backwards had taken all of the patients sciatic leg-pain away. So being a smart fellow Robin left Mr. Emergency in this strange position for a few minutes – after which Mr Emergency walked out feeling much better and asking if he could come back tomorrow for more of the same “treatment”.

The prevailing wisdom at that time was that arching the spine backwards would cause damage to the spine so Robin McKenzie was confused as to why this very position had given his patient such great relief. So he started experimenting with a variety of arched back positions and exercises with patients with severe back pain.

After some experimentation he was able to predict which patients would respond well to this “new treatment” of his and which would not. No one was more surprised with these results than the young Robin McKenzie. Robin decided that he needed to understand why this “new treatment” worked and so he travelled to Europe to work with the great spinal gurus of the time – people like Cyriax and McKenzie – but none of the great therapists could explain his results and most of them dismissed him as an antipodean upstart.

Left with no other option Robin carried out his own study and research which eventually led to the publishing of his first book on “The McKenzie Method”. He later refined his method to include treatment for the whole spine including neck pain. The rest is history and Robin Mckenzie, now in his 80s, is still lecturing and encouraging research into the causes of and treatments for spinal pain.

The McKenzie Institute International is now the pre-eminent teaching body for Therapists and Doctors wanting to understand spinal pain and the McKenzie method. For a Physiotherapist to qualify as a Credentialed McKenzie practitioner they need to follow a tough process of study, clinical practice and international examination. The standards required are high and so there are still only a few Credentialed McKenzie therapists in NSW.

Sports lab at Elevate has a Credentialed McKenzie Physiotherapist at its Sydney CBD clinic and all Sports lab Physiotherapists are trained in the basics of the McKenzie method.

We recommend that anyone that has a long, complex or recurrent history of back or neck pain spends an hour with one of our McKenzie trained Physiotherapists.

Our Sports Lab Advantage is one-hour spent 1:1 with a McKenzie Physiotherapist at our Sydney city rooms will give the chronic or complex back/neck pain sufferer a clear idea of what is possible and how best to achieve it.

For professional physiotherapy Sydney services, visit Elevate performance today!