If you have back pain of any kind, you know how important physiotherapy is. You also know that finding the right physiotherapist is critical for improving your strained back and/or any other kinds of physical ailments or pains you may have. It doesn’t matter whether you call it physiotherapy or physical therapy, finding the right methods and practitioners is key. Here are some of the strategies you can learn about and use.
Now, what exactly can you expect when you have a back pain and need to go to a physiotherapist? Everyone is different and looks at things with their own unique perspectives, ideas, and past experiences. So, first consider what you as an individual need. The next thing to look at is the therapist themselves. There are a wide variety of theories, treatment methods, and techniques for the relief of a common problem like back pain. If you worked with over 100 therapist, you can get well over 100 different reasons for the cause of your pain, the skeletal structure that is causing the pain, and the treatment methods required in order for you to get better.
Oftentimes, people expect physiotherapy to be them lying on a bed where the physiotherapist will physically do something to you like push, pull, or tug you. Many times, people expect machinery to be involved with pulleys and weights much like Pilates. Or sometimes, you may think a hot pack that warms you up and even a bit of ultrasound where a bit of gel is put on the area where you feel the pain. At the conclusion of your session, you may even be shown some different exercises to do. Here’s where people often run into the question of when they will find the time to do them in their hectic day to day lives.
There are traditional types of physical therapy which use things like stair masters with rails or large rubber balls and even swimming therapy. A newer, more alternative type of physiotherapy career is to use the McKenzie Physiotherapy. This involves exercise and posture in a more “no frills” way. There are no machines or massage. It has some very unique ways and is a powerful system which has spread around the world. That means that whether you are seeking treatment from a McKenzie therapist in Japan, Canada, the UK, or USA; they all speak the same language and the treatment techniques all follow a well-established and proven path.
The uniqueness of the McKenzie method is that you will undergo a repeated movement assessment which means performing a number of movements in one direction, then repeating the same movements in the opposite direction. This allows the therapists to begin pinpointing your pain problem to one of 3 mechanical syndromes. One of the most common of this the derangement syndrome. In layperson’s terms, it means that clinically some movements will genuinely make you feel better and reduce the internal derangement or displacement and some movements make you feel worse by increasing the displacement. When you do the repeated movement assessment it helps you find out which one particular exercise you need to do to have the best feeling movement.
In McKenzie work, you will then be given a unique set of physiotherapy movements to perform every hour as a natural pain medication and re-alignment of your structural system. This revolutionary technique was developed in New Zealand in the 1950s by Robin McKenzie. It has become such a successful method that in 1990, he was recognized by Queen Elizabeth II with an OBE.