North Myrtle Beach physical therapist uses interesting form to help reduce pain

NORTH MYRTLE BEACH, SC (WMBF) - Anyone who has ever suffered from constant joint pain knows few options provide permanent relief.

However, there is a North Myrtle Beach rehab center offering a unique form of physical therapy that could help. It is called the McKenzie Method and one physical therapist said its biggest emphasis is on teaching the patient how to reduce their pain themselves.

After years of working and sitting at an office desk, the pain had caught up to Rick Paschal, a patient at Tidelands Health Next Step Rehabilitation. He said it kept him from enjoying his retirement life.

"You knew it was coming and you couldn't turn your head one way or the other without the pain," Paschal said.

The doctors told him he had two bulging discs, a problem he developed from sitting and looking at a computer most of the day. This also led to bad posture and slumped shoulders, Paschal said.

Chiropractors, massage therapists and pain doctors only provided temporary relief.

Paschal was then referred to Tidelands Health Next Step Rehabilitation Services in North Myrtle Beach. Almost immediately, he said he noticed a difference.

He then started working with Frank Moreno, a licensed physical therapist, who introduced him to the McKenzie Method.

As a physical therapist, Moreno said he assesses the patient's pain and determines what causes or even decreases it.

He then looks at what movement cause the pain, and from there develops a program specifically for the patient that will give them a series of exercises to follow on a consistent basis.

"We'll find the right exercise that's going to reduce the pain," Moreno said. "And the beauty of it, I can tell Rick, 'Go home and do this three or four days, call me if there is a problem, but come back in three or four days, we're going to check on this.'"

Moreno said the biggest component of the McKenzie Method is that it's hands-off for the therapists, who really try to focus on providing the tools the patients needs to eliminate the pain themselves.

"There's a big emphasis on self-treatment, giving them the right tools they need to fix themselves," Moreno said. "They need to know how to reduce and eliminate and restore their function independently, and I think this is what makes this system so great. He can learn day one what he needs to do and then do it on his own."

Paschal continues to do his exercises several times a day. After just five therapy sessions, he said his pain was gone.

"This is something you take home and you just do for the rest of your life, just to keep this off, so that's what is amazing about it. I don't have to pay Frank anymore," Paschal said laughing.

Moreno said the McKenzie Method can help address sports-related injuries, and other office-related pain

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