PT visit

I finally saw my PT for my neck injury/arthritis yesterday and got good news! While my neck IS, frankly, a mess (with disk degenerative disease, bulging disks and bony spurs), he thinks the actual PAIN is from the whiplash that didn't heal properly from my fall on the mountain bike trail in October. This means we can actually do something about it :)

I can already tell it won't be pleasant, but he is convinced he can increase my range of motion, loosen the joints in my neck, and strengthen everything. I also think he is correct because some of the discomfort he caused yesterday was muscular and in the same areas of the front of my throat that initially swelled and gave me so many problems in the first few days of the whiplash.

He also gave me a McKenzie exercise meant to treat my bulging disks. I am happy - if the pain were purely from the arthritis then there is only so much that could be done. THIS, is different :cool:

It just goes to show that the existence of a condition doesn't automatically mean that is the source of pain...

yay!!! but... what is a McKenzie exercise??

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Originally Posted by Biciclista

yay!!! but... what is a McKenzie exercise??

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It's the style of physical therapy that Knotted specializes in. I can't articulate how it differs from other styles as I don't know enough to be able to do so. The exercises seem to focus on using the body to encourage it to heal itself? Then again, that could probably be said for physical therapy in general. There is more information here.

That is awesome. I love PTs! I hope you see big improvements soon.

Fantastic Catrin! :cool:

I'm so happy for you!!

Good news!! I'm glad you've found a PT that inspires you and will help you heal.

Biciclista, McKenzie techniques using and evaluation of movement to determine the movements that make you worse and those that make you better. It encourages frequent movements into the direction that makes you better while educating the patient to stop doing movements that make them worse. Seems simple right? Not quite but that's the nuts and bolts of it. So McKenzie exercises aren't one specific exercise, it's more of an approach that leads to exercise prescription specific to how the patient presents in the evaluation.

This technique is used a lot for disc injuries and seems to be most effective in this group. It doesn't work as well for many other conditions. The best approach uses McKenzie in combination with other exercises to address other issues.