The Lumbar Spine: Mechanical Diagnosis & Therapy (2-Volume Set)

I'm a physical therapist and I bought these books when I was in PT school as part of the recommended reading. I didn't begin reading them until I graduated, but I must say they are worth the money. There is a lot of great information and they are not boring, nor are they a difficult read. I recommend them to every PT student and any PT, especially those working in the OP setting in which they treat back pain.

Great books!! I am a PTA and going to the class was life changing but having the books to review is invaluable. They are easy to read and in good sections.

Pros: I like the systematic approach presented in this text. It is easy to follow and learn especially with the images. These books are the only place you will find the full mechanical diagnosis approach. The assessment and treatment program outlined in these books has become a standard in many professions for good reasons. This is a very thorough book with tons of references. This is a good reference text. Images and tables have good information. There is a lot of original research summaries and interpretations. The section on lateral shift was really good.Cons: I did not like the redundancy of the books. The images, tables, and statistics were often times repeated throughout the books. The in-text citations also added to the length of the book and made it slightly difficult to read in some paragraphs which consisted mostly of people's names and dates. They could have easily shortened it a couple of hundred pages overall and also by using superscript citations. I did not like how sometimes it was sometimes (purposefully?) vague regarding the approach or interpretation of the examination findings. Example: The definition of "Derangement syndrome" ... "internal displacement of articular tissue of whatever origin will cause pain to remain constant until such time as the displacement is reduced." Also, they could have gone more into detail into how mechanical diagnosis and treatment affects non-disc conditions.

Great books for the McKenzie clinician. Not meant for the lay person. Purchase "Treat Your Own Back or Neck" as these are written for the lay person.

I only received volume 2 book of this order when I was supposed to receive two books, both volume 1 and 2.

Completely evidence based book, updated and revised from its first form in 1981. A ton of research in here and very well referenced book. If you like what you see, consider becoming certified in McKenzi MDT.

Really well written. Much better then the last edition of the same book. It has evidence based info supporting the work and it is easy to read.

Great publications. Solid science and referencing. Shipping, timing from Amazon was great.