McKenzie Method & self treatment guides

January 14, 2021 by Sian Smale

A reflective piece on the self-treatment guides created by the late Robin McKenzie. A true pioneer and leader in our profession who was passionate about the treatment of musculoskeletal pain disorders. His work in renown world wide for ‘repeated movements’ and ‘directional preferences’ commonly known as the McKenzie Method of Mechanical Diagnosis and Therapy. His wisdom and pearls from years of patient management have been distilled into self-treatment guides. This blog reviews five of his books involving self-treatment of the neck, back, shoulder, hip and knee.

Thoracic Outlet Syndrome - clinical assessment

January 23, 2020 by Sian Smale

Recently I listed to a fantastic podcast by Jo Gibson through Clinical Edge on Thoracic Outlet Syndrome and was thrilled to learn some advances which have taken place in our knowledge of this condition since I first published a blog on the topic in 2013. Seven years later and I am excited to share a revised piece that includes the latest ideas around clinical assessment, and in particular sensory testing in the differential diagnosis of this challenging condition.

Managing patients with musculoskeletal pain disorders

November 02, 2019 by Sian Smale

In 2018, a group of highly skilled Physiotherapists in Western Australia, collaborated to produce a very special ebook. It is a framework that helps teach physiotherapists how to assess and manage patients with musculoskeletal pain disorders. I was so excited to hear about this book being published and couldn’t wait to read it. This blog is a review of this ebook.

Rayner & Smale Launch Pad

December 23, 2017 by Sian Smale

As 2017 draws to a close and we begin to reflect on what this year has meant for our blog, it is valuable to understand our audience. Rayner & Smale is written for physiotherapists and clinicians from all paths and levels of experience. We definitely receive more feedback from newly graduated therapists who are trying to navigate their way through private practice, musculoskeletal or orthopedic physiotherapy and settle into their new careers. To be part of that learning experience and clinical journey is such a pleasure. This blog is a starting point to unravel some of our most-read, and most-applicable content from the past 4 years. We believe it forms a foundation for learning about physiotherapy before narrowing into the finer detail of specific body regions or conditions.

Lateral Epicondylalgia - Treatment Considerations

March 09, 2017 by Sian Smale

Welcome back to part two of the lateral epicondylalgia series. In this section we are going to focus on treatment considerations and commonly used manual therapy techniques and exercise prescription. This is the first blog that focusses on using Mulligan mobilisation with movement techniques (MWMs) for the treatment of pain.

Hip: Athletic Groin Pain Part 1

January 13, 2017 by Sian Smale

This week we continue to look at the hip by exploring the definition of athletic groin pain (AGP). This blog series dissects three research papers from Dublin about the clinical assessment, role of MRI and biomechanical changes with AGP. First up - what is the groin triangle and what does groin pain mean?