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Diagnosing your problem

To help you to determine whether you can treat your low back pain successfully without further assistance, you should answer the following checklist.

Please note: the yes/no tick boxes are not functional, they are there for anyone who wants to print off this page and use the questionnaire.

 1.  Are there periods in the day when you have no pain? Even ten minutes?

 2.  Is the pain confined to areas above the knee?

 3.  Are you generally worse when sitting for prolonged periods or on rising from
      the sitting position?

 4.  Are you generally worse during or right after prolonged bending or stooping as
      in bed-making, vacuuming, ironing, concreting, digging or gardening?

 5.  Are you generally worse when getting up in the morning, but improve after
      about half an hour?

 6.  Are you generally worse when inactive and better when on the move?

 7.   Are you generally better when walking?

 8.  Are you generally better when lying face down? When testing this you may feel
      worse for the first few minutes after which time the pain subsides; in this case
      the answer to the question is ‘yes’.

 9.  Have you had several episodes of low back pain over the past months or
      years?

10.  Between episodes, are you able to move fully in all directions without pain?

11.  Between episodes, are you pain-free?

12.  If you have pain in the buttocks, or the upper or lower leg, does it sometimes
       stop completely, even though you may still have pain in the back?


Work out your results...

If you have answered ‘yes’ to all the questions, you are an ideal candidate for the self treatment programme outlined in this book.

If you have answered ‘yes’ to five or more questions, your chances to benefit from self-treatment are good and you should commence the programme.

If you have answered ‘yes’ to only four or fewer questions, then some form of specialised treatment may be required and you should consult a therapist credentialled or diplomaed by the McKenzie Institute International. Details can be found on their website .