Mechanical Diagnosis & Treatment

You have pain (hey, we all do!) what is your next step? Ignore it and hope it goes away? See your PCP and get imaging? Google/Youtube it? Unfortunately, most of these situations result in either more fear surrounding your pain (I’m looking at you google) or non-results because the treatment is not specific to your needs.  Now, imagine a situation in which you can truly understand your pain.  You are no longer at the mercy of your pain, but you understand what it is communicating to you, and you are able to take control of your own situation.  I like that option better, but how do we do that?

The answer is mechanical diagnosis.  Rather than being told you have a fancy termed problem such as patellofemoral pain, which really just equates to “you have knee pain”, and gives us no tangible information, mechanical diagnosis is focused on developing an understanding of how your pain responds to movement.  In contrast to the diagnosis of “patellofemoral pain”  a mechanical diagnosis would provide specific information regarding the movements that increase your pain and the movements that you can safely perform, and can actually help fix the problem! A mechanical diagnosis provides you with the understanding of why you are experiencing pain and what to do to resolve the root of the problem all without the use of medications, injections or surgery!.  By understanding the root of your pain you develop the power to make change.

If you are missing out on activities you love whether its golf, skiing, walking or the gym because of pain, consider seeking help from a physical therapist who can work with you directly and spend the necessary time to develop a mechanical diagnosis so you can take charge of the problem and get back to doing the things you love!