Case history: engineering her own recovery
Helen is a civil engineer, age 52, and lives in upstate New York. She had lower back pain for eight years. The pain was worse when she sat or bent over. She got some relief simply by using a lumbar roll, by walking, and by standing.
Before starting the McKenzie program, Helen had seen numerous physical therapists and a chiropractor, had attended a “back school,” and had endured two epidural injections for pain. A doctor had diagnosed degenerative disc disease.
Helen used Back Exercise 3, Extension in Lying. This led to increased extension range without any worsening of pain. Five days after starting the program, her lower back pain had decreased. Helen continued with Back Exercise 3, making a special effort to “sag” as much as possible. Sagging caused pain at the end range of motion, but the pain did not remain when she left the extreme-sag position.
Two days later Helen had full range of motion. She began the “slouch-overcorrect” posture exercise without any pain and was able to do Back Exercise 4, Extension in Standing, fully extended.
Five days later, she progressed to Flexion in Lying (Back Exercise 5).
Seventeen days later, Helen had no symptoms at all. Even two weeks later, she had no pain and no limitation in range of motion.
