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.

Patient rated outcome measures (PROM) in Chronic Pain

February 26, 2020 by Sian Smale

As our knowledge of chronic pain broadens, we are beginning to appreciate that there are modifiable risk factors that contribute to the development of long term pain and disability. Fear avoidance, negative beliefs, anxiety and depression are just a few. Several outcome measures are currently available to clinicians to help guide their clinical reasoning by identifying these risk factors. The purpose of this blog is to look specifically at outcome measures and explore how they guide our patient management.

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.

Informed pain management for LBP

December 03, 2018 by Sian Smale

This week we are looking at an article review covering a brilliant paper that has recently been published out of Hong Kong. I have been waiting for a paper like this for some time now, that looks systematically at all the literature behind the current approach to pain management education we are encouraged to provide to our patients about lower back pain.

The opiod epidemic - a personal perspective

July 17, 2018 by Sian Smale

It has been hard to ignore the surge in media and articles published in 2018 through professional platforms/bodies around the opioid epidemic. Curious to know more about what our suggested role is to play in this opioid epidemic, I began reading some of the latest reviews. This problem has been growing for several decades now and does not begin with our profession. Yet, our profession is being drawn into the conversation more strongly as time continues.

The Tetris effect

May 30, 2017 by Sian Smale

This case presentation describes two areas of treating elbows that look beyond traditionally used exercises and manual therapy. The first is the freedom of combined active movements and the second is what I call the Tetris effect. Both of these components were pivotal in this patient's recovery from acute lateral epicondylalgia.