Relative therapeutic efficacy of the Williams and McKenzie protocols in back pain management

Gladys Nwuga ‌Professor & Head of DepartmentSenior Lecturer¹ and Vincent Nwuga ‌¹

¹Dept. Of Medical Rehabilitation, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Ife, lle-lfe, Nigeria

A study was conducted to compare the relative efficacy of the Williams protocol for low back pain management with the McKenzie protocol using patients with diagnosis of prolapsed intervertebral disc. There were two groups in this study. There were the Williams group (WG) and the McKenzie group (MG). There were 31 subjects in each group. The results of this study showed that the McKenzie protocol was superior to the Williams protocol when post-treatment ranges, movement and straight-leg-raising were considered; average time spent in treating patients with McKenzie protocol was significantly less than that spent with the Williams protocol; the McKenzie protocol was significantly better than that of Williams in decreasing pain—and increasing comfortable sitting time; more of the Williams protocol patients came back for more treatment as a result of relapse as compared to the McKenzie protocol patients. It was concluded that the McKenzie protocol was superior to the Williams protocol in the treatment of the type of patients described in the study.