Extension Bias and Directional Preferences

If you are suffering from any musculoskeletal system disorder then you have feel at some point that some position make you feel better while other make it feel worse for certain conditions such as herniated disc or sacroiliac joint pain some known association with specific position exist physical therapist as well as your personal trainers use this information to help you manage your symptoms at home at work and while exercising

Directional Preferences

These directional preferences specially in the spine rehabilitation world are part of a movement based approach to categorize the lower back pain that allows your therapist to watch and observe that how satnd sit walk and move your therapist use the information collected to come up with the treatment plan that works for you

This approach is known as the non patho anatomical system of classification there is also a patho anatomical approach that is most suitable when you are looking at MRI CT scan and  you are likely to determine how  to treat your symptoms the  McKenzie system is widely used by physical therapist around the world and is a best example of non pathogenic anatomical classification system

The Pathoanatomical vs Non-Pathoanatomical Approach

The question here is which approach works better the anatomical approach is the definitive read on what’s going on in your structure or the non pathogenic anatomical approach which is obviously more patient centric

The patho anatomical approach dominate the clinical landscape but a number of professionals in the field state that the system has flaws in the clinical practice guidelines for lower back pain for example the American physical therapy association says that patho anatomical approach to classify back pain is more difficult by number of false diagnostic imaging test

For explaining their point the authors of the guideline report that in 22 to 70% of people with no sicatica who underwent mirror resonance imaging herniated could be found and in almost 30% of patients who had no symptoms at all all can be diagnosed with this generation bulging or herniation of disc facet joint hypertrophic or spinal nerve root compression

Specialists explain that it is possible for people to get lower back pain while there test  can remain unchanged they conclude by saying that even when an abnormality is found on film then linking it to the patient’s condition or determining its cause is not very useful in helping the patient feel better or return back to the functioning

So both the methods have their own pros and cons and are not effective for each and every condition but a combination of both can be used for effective results
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