McKenzie Institute

The institute was formed in 1982 in the United States of America by doctors and physical therapists involved in the teaching of the McKenzie method of mechanical diagnosis and therapy developed by Robert McKenzie of New Zealand. The McKenzie concepts are now practiced worldwide and are widely recommended as the first treatment of choice for patients with common back problems.

With the McKenzie techniques, your physical therapists at Williams Physical Therapy can differentiate bulged discs, nerve entrapment and stenosis from soft tissue injury. From the McKenzie physical exam and medical history alone, therapists at Williams Physical Therapy can develop successful treatment plans. Only specific symptom patterns, which occur in a small number of cases indicate the need for sophisticated imaging techniques. Clinicians can reserve costly MRI’s for patient’s failing to respond to conservative treatment.

McKenzie has a plethora of scientifically proven research to support the principles and practical applications of the mechanical diagnosis and therapy for me

Assessment Advantages

• Offers a well defined Algorithm leading to simple classifications of spine related disorders. This assessment performed at Williams Physical Therapy will often eliminate any practical need for an MRI.
  
• Differentiates problems based on mechanical syndromes (ie bulged discs, nerve entrapment, stenosis, etc.) from soft tissue injuries such as sprains and strains.
  
• Quickly identifies patient’s who are not good candidates for conservative treatment. Doctors can refer these patients to other alternatives before patients waste time and money on unnecessary rehabilitation.

Treatment Advantages

• Emphasizes education and active patient involvement in the independent management of the treatment.
  
• Decreases pain quickly, restores function and independence and minimizes the number of outpatient therapy visits.
  
• Stresses prophylactic exercises to minimize the risk of reoccurrence and empowers patients to manage themselves if and when symptoms reoccur.

All Williams Physical Therapy therapists and physical therapy assistances have attended all continuing education class levels offered by the McKenzie Institute for spine assessment and rehab.

Please click this link to visit the McKenzie Institute Website.



Certified Strength Conditioning Specialists

Clark Williams, PT, C.Ped is also a Certified Strength Conditioning Specialists (CSCS). The CSCS program was initiated in 1985 to identify individuals who possessed the knowledge and skills to design and implement safe and effective strength conditioning programs. The program encourages a higher level of competency among practitioners that in turn raise the quality of strength training and conditioning programs provided by those who are CSCS certified. To be eligible to take the exam, you must hold a B.A./B.S. degree, be enrolled as a college senior at an accredited college or university, or hold a degree in chiropractic medicine, and be CPR certified.

This certification has been effectively utilized with our area athletes, patient’s and wellness program participants. Clark Williams has been involved with several of the area athletes including football, basketball, track and volleyball players to assist in increasing their speed, agility, strength, conditioning, and reducing the frequency of injury. Clark also utilizes this knowledge in assisting therapy patients in maximizing their functional level and assisting them to return to their previous level of job requirements while reducing their likelihood of reinjury. Wellness participants have also benefited from this knowledge in helping them reach their conditioning goals and weight loss goals.

For more information, please visit the NSCA Website.

Pedorthics Association

Clark Williams, PT, C.Ped, CSCS is a certified pedorthic (C.Ped). A certified pedorthic is an individual who possesses the knowledge and skills to design, manufacture, modify and/or fit footwear, including shoes, orthotics and foot devices, to prevent or alleviate foot problems caused by disease, congenital defects and overuse or injury.

Currently our facility offers athletic footwear by Brooks, New Balance and Saucony. We also carry industrial work boots from Dunham and athletic industrial shoes from Nautilus and Dunham. We carry specialty and diabetic shoes from Apex.

At Williams Physical Therapy, we manufacture all our custom foot orthotics at our Galax location. We use the foot tech custom molded orthotic system. This allows our therapist to fabricate problem solving devices as well as achieve functional control of the foot and lower extremity. Through the patented direct molding process, the therapist is able to capture the foot in it’s most functional position by suspending the patient’s foot in a multi-density environment. The molding process allows the practitioners to simulate the foots position in the mid-stance phase of the gait cycle, allowing the practitioner to control and/or correct alignment of the lower closed kinetic chain. This system allows the therapist to achieve total control of patient treatment while fabricating a shock absorbing, anatomically correct, direct molded orthotic in less than 30 minutes.

Please click this link for more information about the PFA.