- Home
- About Us
- Rolfing
- Acupuncture
- Specialties
- Acupuncture for Womens Health / Mens Health
- Reproductive Health and Fertility
- Rolfing for Babies & Children
- Rolfing for Pediatric Developmental Disabilities
- Physical Therapy for Sport Injuries
- Physical Therapy for Low Back and Neck Pain
- Emotional Health & Mental Illness
- Acupuncture and Environmental Health
- Cancer and Post-Surgical Recovery with Acupuncture
- The Air Cleaner Store
- Locations
- Blog
- Media
- New Patients
Remembering Robin McKenzie
Robin based his practice on some simple tenets:
Robin discovered an important principal in assessing back and neck pain called centralization. If your problem is moving toward the spine, (from the foot to the calf, or from the thigh to the buttock, or the buttock to the spine) it is centralizing, and that’s a good sign, you are getting better. If your pain or symptoms are moving away from the spine, it’s called peripheralization, and that is not a good sign. Your problem is becoming worse. This principal allows the practitioners and patients to determine if their treatment is working.
Robin had a good sense of humor. Story has it, he was driving along a highway in his native New Zealand, and he saw someone lying on the ground performing one of his exercises. Robin stops, gets out of his car and walks around the former patient. After a minute, he finally says, “Just checking,” and gets back into his car and drives away. He was also known to walk around airport lobbies checking the sitting posture of each person as they wait for their flights.
As a PT student at NYU, Robin’s work became the focus of my senior project. It was titled: “The Bio-Mechanics of Low Back Pain and The McKinzie Method of Treatment.” Soon after I graduated PT school, I trained and was certified by the McKinzie Institute in the treatment of cervical and lumbar spines. Later, I had the good fortune to study with Robin himself when he was teaching here in the states. Robin was a brilliant diagnostician and practitioner. The McKenzie method continues to evolve and I continue to study and practice it. To learn more about McKenzie, you can read our blog post called “Low Back Pain.“
In my 35+ years of private practice, we have treated thousands of patients with back and neck pain. We incorporate Robin McKenzie’s tools, Dr Rolf’s vision and Acupuncture in the treatment of acute and chronic cervical and low back problems.
Don’t hesitate to schedule on line call (973.509.8464 or 212.820.8719) for your next appointment.
By David Frome • Acupuncture, Physical Therapy, Rolfing • • Tags: low back pain, mckenzie method, neck pain, postural exercise, robin mckenzie