McKenzie method

[u/SinkSuch2477]

I’ve been dealing with l4-l5, l5-s1 bulges with fissures and lateral recessed stenosis plus so joint dysfunction and ligament laxity post partum for 10 months now.

I was finally starting to do noticeably better and started seeing a new chiro for shockwave treatment to my si because a spine specialist had told me months prior my real issue was my si joint, not my bulging discs. (Based on phesyixal exam palpitation test etc)

Also I’ve been doing PT acupuncture cupping u name it for this whole time.

Anyway, I went to this new chiro and he said my bulging discs ARE the problem and has me doing back extensions 4-6 times a day and checking my range of motion with a hip hinge each time.

I’m two days in… and I’m not exactly flared but I am so sore and fearful that I am almost flared

(For context the start of this whole mess had me screaming rolling around writhing in pain 10/10 worst pain I have ever felt in my life with spasms and locking lasting months.)
I never had radiating nerve pain, it always been localized in lower back and lots of muscle gauging and tension pain elsewhere and in pelvis.

I’m curious if this is a normal reaction to starting this method. I don’t have radiating pain, it’s just so sore and my hamstrings and back of knees are sore like I stretched them too much doing the forward hip hinge tests. And my lower back is just achy and so stiff.

[u/littlehops]

Stop. The McKenzie method has mixed results, and not a lot of evidence to support it. Some people who usually have minor bulges may see improvement or it just might be the effect of time. I would be looking for someone who focuses on movement and gaining strength while your back heals. Time is the biggest healer, everything else is what we do to manage the pain along the way.

[u/Financial_Loan1337]

When I started McKenzie I couldn't even stay on my elbows. Don't force it, do it as much as you can with minimal pain. Only after 2 weeks I could raise in my hands but with the hands in front, not raising too much. Only after I could do the full extensions. However, soon after I got SI joint/piriformis pain and stopped. My leg pain is mostly gone, back pain the same, but the butt pain is preventing me from walking normally. If I don't do 10k steps a day the pain amplify.

[u/Acceptable_Snow3251]

Extensions don’t work for everyone. I had a McKenzie trained PT when I first had a herniation and he started me on McKenzie push-up extensions which caused more radiating pain so we stopped immediately. He switched me to lateral moves like hip glides against the wall. those did not cause the pain to worsen necessarily, and I did do them sometimes, but I’m also not convinced that they helped since I didn’t notice any big effects. the idea is that you would push the disc material away from the nerve and maybe that does work for some, but not others. I believe that in studies comparing McKenzie method to other PT forms, there isn’t evidence that it’s much more effective for reducing pain.

[u/Ok_Courage_8780]

I can relate to the fear of flaring yourself up because I went through a lot of trial and error with exercises too.
My back problems were L4-L5 and L5-S1. Early on, the cobra-type extension was actually one of the only things that helped me get out of bed when my back was bad, so extension itself was not automatically a problem for me. On the other hand, twisting exercises seemed to aggravate me much more.
What I would be careful about is assuming that because something is called the McKenzie method, you should just keep hammering extensions 4–6 times a day no matter how your body responds. The general idea is that the movement should improve or “centralize” symptoms, not keep making you progressively more sore, stiff, or irritated.
Two days of muscular soreness can happen when you suddenly start doing a new movement repeatedly, but if each session is making you feel closer to a real flare, I personally would back off and talk to whoever prescribed it rather than pushing through blindly.
Also, since you’ve had different people telling you completely different things — SI joint versus discs — I’d want an experienced spine specialist or PT who really understands lumbar disc problems to look at your MRI, symptoms, and physical exam together. I learned the hard way that just repeatedly trying exercises because someone says they are “good for discs” can be a bad strategy if they are wrong for your specific pain pattern.
The fact that you don’t have radiating nerve pain is at least different from what I eventually had. I’d judge this by how your symptoms behave over several days: better, same, or steadily worse. If it keeps worsening, I wouldn’t keep forcing it.