The McKenzie Method of management of Spinal Pain was developed in the 1960’s by Robin McKenzie, a physical therapist in New Zealand. He came upon the concept by his own experiences in his practice, he became aware that bending the spine backwards relieved certain patients of their back pain and allowed  them  return to their normal function quite quickly.

He investigated this phenomenon and developed an entire approach to spinal treatment for all areas of the lumbar, thoracic and cervical spine.

The McKenzie approach is based on centralizing a patient's pain by centralising it, bringing it from the arm or leg into the back or neck. This is done by a series of specific exercises which are determined by the findings of a very thorough assessment. Once centralised the pain can be reduced by another series of very specific exercises.

There are many other aspects to the McKenzie approach which is known as 'MDT' Mechanical Diagnosis and Therapy.


In Kilkenny Physiotherapy & Sports Injury our therapists use the McKenzie Approach to treatment in conjunction with other treatment approaches, which enables us to bring your cycle of back and neck pain, or your acute episodes, to an end once and for all.


For more information on McKenzie approach to treatment


Definition of McKenzie http://http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McKenzie_method

Access the McKenzie Institute website  http://http://www.mckenziemdt.org/

Click  http://http://www.treatyourownback.com to access on-line Robin McKenzie Back and neck books. Although these are extremely useful tools, and we advocate that our patient's read them, as accurate diagnosis is the key to successful McKenzie treatment, so we do recommend you come in and have an accurate diagnosis made before  beginning this approach to treatment.
Also, most back and neck problems will have underlying muscle imbalances, joint malallignments and biomechanical issues which will also need to be addressed.

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