What Is Mechanical Diagnosis & Therapy (McKenzie Method)? 

An internationally researched system of assessment and rehab for spinal and extremity musculoskeletal pain. Clinicians that have training in the Mechanical Diagnosis & Therapy (MDT) system are able to assess, classify, manage, and properly refer out when indicated for all complaints of the musculoskeletal system. This means that if a pain complaint is coming from the spine, extremity joints, muscles or tendons, then a MDT evaluation is appropriate. A clinician with MDT training will be able to identify what management strategy is best and outline a predicted recovery plan. All using movement and patient education as a guide toward self management.

The Ankle and Plantar Fasciitis

Treatment and rehab for plantar fasciitis can involve everything from foot, ankle, hip, and core based on your individual presentation. We will start from the bottom and move on up in an succeeding blog.

Many times, pain in the bottom of the foot or heel can be pushed into a blanket diagnosis of “you have plantar fasciitis”. But is it plantar fasciitis? Could it be another condition like tibialis posterior tendonitis, stress fracture in the heel, radiating pain from the low back? While getting a blanket diagnosis of plantar fasciitis based on zero exam with some basic rehab and soft tissue techniques thrown at it may work, there is a good chance it probably will not. You must know what you are aiming at. And in the same boat, what is causing the plantar fasciitis? Just because there is pain and inflammation in the plantar fascia does not mean that the CAUSE of the pain is coming from that area as well. In fact, it rarely does. This is why seeking out help from sports chiropractor or physical therapist is important to get a proper diagnosis and most importantly find out the main cause of the pain.  

PAIN GUIDELINES

⁣STOP LIGHT SYSTEM TO PAIN 

RED LIGHT:   ⁣

YELLOW LIGHT:

GREEN LIGHT: ⁣

HOW ICT MUSCLE & JOINT CAN HELP YOUR PAIN

There are a lot of misconceptions and confusion that come with rehab and recovering from an injury. Some common questions we have pop up or know people are wondering are: why am I having to do exercises at home? Can’t you just “fix” me with your treatments at your office?  Why I am doing these low-grade rehab exercises at the beginning? Why am I continuing to come and progress with exercises if I am out of pain? These are just to name a few, and we will try to answer each as best we can.

There are two things behind this idea. One that everyone should be treated with the same presence, time, listening, care and attention to detail as an athlete is in today’s culture of rehab. Two that care should be dictated toward getting the patient back to moving better and finding or encouraging a movement practice they love. Just like when we are doing a “return to play” strategy with an injured athlete. 

My name is Riley Dreher and I was blessed with the opportunity to complete 500 total hours of shadowing at ICT Muscle and Joint Clinic through Wichita State University. This internship was my final project to complete my Bachelor’s Degree in Exercise Science. I have been accepted into Cleveland Chiropractic College in Overland Park, Kansas where I will begin attending school next January. During my time here at ICT Muscle & Joint Clinic, I was able to develop, study, and seek further knowledge of what I can offer to the future chiropractic world and what ICT Muscle & Joint Clinic has to future patients.

The ICTMJC Mindset

If you knew Patrick Mahomes was going to come to the presentation you were doing, how much more would you prepare, wanting to give the best presentation of your life? Maybe you could care less, but you get the point. The majority of people would automatically prepare like an over-caffeinated-mad-man to make sure the presentation was top notch. But what if we treated everyone like that? What if we were fully present and brought our “A” game with everybody? What if we went that extra mile no matter who was in front of us? This is the mindset we at ICT Muscle & Joint want to have. Nobody is more important than anyone else. Everybody deserves that world-class-athlete-treatment.

Happy New Year Wichitans! Hope everyone had a safe and fun holiday season. With the new year comes reflecting on goals and resolutions to make 2020 the best year yet. Keeping that in mind, we wanted to roll out a new series describing a concept that is near and dear to us at ICT Muscle & Joint and our goals for patient care: Treating Everyone Like an Athlete.

In today's technology age, most people spend a lot of time sitting at desk looking at a computer, or looking down at their phone. There is nothing wrong with this posture. I'll say it again, THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH THIS POSTURE. I wrote this while sitting in that position. However, because of this position and how gravity works, our postural muscles work as our anti-gravity muscles. Without them, we would technically face-plant on our computers and phones ????‍♂️.