The McKenzie method of mechanical diagnosis and therapy is an active patient treatment philosophy that emphasizes prevention and intervention, and encourages patients to be in control of their own treatment.
Unique to the McKenzie Method is a well-defined algorithm that leads to the simple classification of spinal-related disorders. It is based on a consistent “cause and effect” relationship between historical pain behavior as well as the pain response to repeated test movements, positions and activities during the assessment process.
A systematic progression of applied mechanical forces (the cause) utilizes pain response (the effect) to monitor changes in motion/function. The underlying disorder can then be quickly identified through objective findings for each individual patient.
The McKenzie classification of spinal pain provides reproducible means of separating patients with apparently similar presentations into definable sub-groups (syndromes) to determine appropriate treatment.
McKenzie has named these three mechanical syndromes: Postural, Dysfunction
and Derangement. Postural: end-range stress of normal structures. Dysfunction:
end-range
