Repetitive Movement Key to Therapy
Success depends on how hard you’re willing to work

Click here to view this story as it appeared in the Morganton News Herald (Includes additional graphics and information) in pdf format.

BY ANNA WILSON

BLUE RIDGE HEALTHCARE

MORGANTON - A lot of the success in physical therapy depends on the patient. How hard is the average person willing to work, especially when the exercises may hurt?

“At some point in your life, you will probably experience low back pain,” said Ward Martin, PT, Cert. MDT, manager of Blue Ridge HealthCare’s Rehabilitative Services at Valdese Hospital. “What therapy can do is help people through these episodes and figure out how to keep them from reoccurring.”

Ward Martin, PT, Cert.MDT, manager of Blue Ridge HealthCare’s Rehabilitative Services at Valdese Hospital, works with a therapy client using the McKenzie method. “It’s very dependent upon the patient being proactive and interested in taking part in their own care, helping themselves,” Martin said. “If they’ll do their part, I feel like 90-plus percent of people with neck and back pain can be helped with this method.”

One of the methods Martin employs is the McKenzie Method of Mechanical Diagnosis and Therapy of the spine (MDT). He is certified in MDT and says it is oriented so that the patient learns to take care of himself, hopefully avoiding surgery and/or dependence on medications.

“People can use these techniques to conservatively manage back and neck issues very well,” Martin said. “In many cases they don’t need to do something as expensive, risky and traumatic as back surgery.”

Martin likes this method because it teaches people to take care of themselves. “So often patients come to the hospital and have things done to them,” he said. “With this method, it’s very dependent upon the patient being proactive and interested in taking part in their own care and helping themselves. If they’ll do their part, I feel like many people with neck and back pain can be helped with this method.”

Founded in the 1960s by Robin McKenzie of New Zealand, MDT gained worldwide popularity in the 1980s and 1990s. It includes a system of treatment and prevention people can do on their own after a trained therapist provides a thorough assessment and instruction in what to do and not do.

Martin first heard of the therapy while attending Tennessee State University in Nashville, earning his degree in physical therapy. “I began to take continuing education classes after I got out of school in 1997,” he said. “I spent about six years total taking courses and using this method at work.”

Martin earned his certification in 2003, and says there are only about seven therapists in Western North Carolina certified in the McKenzie method. Two other therapists at Valdese Rehab have taken part of the training and are working towards the certification.

At the core of this therapy are systematic, repetitive, mechanical movements of the spine in a preferred direction that “centralizes” pain, or moves it from the limbs to the spine. If a position or movement can be found that causes this centralizing phenomenon, the chances are very good that success with treatment will be achieved.

“Pressure on a nerve near the spine will often cause pain running down a line away from the spine into the arms or legs,” Martin said. For patients with symptoms such as these, the McKenzie approach seeks out the direction in which exercise should take place in order to decrease pressure on the nerve and cause pain to centralize.

The long-term goal of the McKenzie Method is to teach patients suffering from neck and/or back pain how to treat themselves and manage their symptoms for life using exercise and other strategies.

  • Other goals include:
  • Reduce pain quickly
  • Maintain this reduction
  • Return to normal functioning in daily activities
  • Prevent/minimize risk of recurrence (avoid painful postures and movements)
  • Minimize the number of return visits to the spine specialist

“A lot of therapy is patient education,” said Ruffin Johnson, CHT, an occupational therapist certified in hand therapy at Valdese Hospital. “I’ve seen the public make a shift to where they now know more about how the body works. They come in with good questions, and if you’ll take the time to explain, if they can understand why you’re asking them to keep doing something that is hard or painful, they may work twice as hard at it. If you give them that respect, it goes a long way.”

Not all patients will respond to this kind of therapy, Martin said. “But if we’re referred a patient who has neck and/or back pain, we can quickly determine if it’s a condition appropriate for our treatment. If it’s a patient who isn’t going to respond, we will promptly get them on an appropriate path to get help another way.”

For more information on mechanical diagnosis and therapy or any other therapy, please call Blue Ridge HealthCare’s Rehabilitation Services at 879-7592. Patients eligible for MDT must have a physician’s referral.

Anna Wilson is a writer and graphic artist in Blue Ridge HealthCare’s Marketing and Public Relations Department.

The McKenzie Steps

STEP ONE: Unique to the McKenzie Method® is a comprehensive and logical step-by-step process to evaluate the patient’s problem quickly. This mechanical examination can “classify” most patient conditions by the level of pain or limitation that results from certain movements or positions. A McKenzie assessment can eliminate the need for expensive and/or invasive procedures. Research has shown the initial McKenzie assessment procedures to be as reliable as costly diagnostic imaging (i.e., x-rays, MRIs) to determine the source of the problem and quickly identify responders and non-responders.

STEP TWO: McKenzie treatment prescribes a series of individualized exercises. The emphasis is on active patient involvement, which minimizes the number of visits to the clinic. Ultimately, most patients can successfully treat themselves when provided the necessary knowledge and tools. For patients with more difficult mechanical problems, a certified McKenzie clinician can provide advanced hands-on techniques until the patient can self administer.

STEP THREE: By learning how to self-treat the current problem, patients gain hands-on knowledge on how to minimize the risk of recurrence and to rapidly deal with recurrence if it occurs. The likelihood of problems persisting can more likely be prevented through self-maintenance.

Source: www.mckenziemdt.org

The second largest employer in Burke County, Blue Ridge HealthCare serves a four-county area and includes Grace and Valdese hospitals, Blue Ridge Home HealthCare, Grace Heights and College Pines Health & Rehabilitation Centers, Grace Ridge Retirement Community, Phifer Wellness Center and a number of physician practices.