Personal back pain led to interest in exercise therapy treatment

Dr. Knox reflects on his history with back aches and pains from a young age. From aspiring to be a professional golfer to transitioning focus to a career in neurosurgery, back pain was a persistent problem for Dr. Knox.

“Having suffered from back and neck pain my entire life, that has afforded me the opportunity to develop exercise and treatment paradigms for our patients”.

During his medical school career, Dr. Knox became acquainted with the University of Iowa’s physical therapy department. A back flexion device was used at the main protocol to treat back pain.

“At this time when you would send patients to the physical therapist, you would get cookie-cutter type therapy. Either they would get extension exercises or ‘feel-good’ therapy which was pretty worthless.” Dr. Knox began discussing with physical therapists on how to further develop an exercise-based treatment program that would make a positive difference for patients. “We figured the best option was a combination of the spine flexion and extension exercises.”

Exercise devices quickly transformed treatment protocol

Another interesting aspect Dr. Knox began developing was taking an individual approach with each patient. “At this time, it was a novel idea” since the same treatment was being prescribed to every patient. In the early 90s Dr. Knox learned about the early MedX devices, however he was apprehensive of their approach.

“When we began developing the Total Spine concept, we incorporated both the cervical and lumbar extension devices”.

“Using an individual approach to treating patient was unusual at the time.”

“In our initial exposure to something new, we were somewhat hesitant.” Dr. Knox and his team took a year to slowly get acquainted with the David Spine Concept but remained critical. In early 2016, the Total Spine physical therapy clinic incorporated the full David Spine Concept alongside the MedX devices. However, things changed quickly.

Patient at Total Spine clinic exercising on the G120 Lumbar/Thoracic device.

“David technology is the most biomechanically sound and effective rehabilitative equipment in the world.”

Within a year of introducing the David Spine Concept, the Total Spine team realized that they needed to double the device units with multifunction exercises. “David technology is the most biomechanically sound and effective rehabilitative equipment in the world”. The clinic has also incorporated the David Shoulder and Hip & Knee Concepts to provide patients with a comprehensive opportunity to musculoskeletal rehabilitation.

Device-based exercise therapy supports patient satisfaction

Introduction of David technology to the Total Spine clinics was met with intrigue and interest. For clinic patients, using devices was not new, but the David technology provided a new and improved approach to training and receiving real-time biofeedback.

“Our patients gravitated to the David Spine devices and within 2 months everybody was going to the David Spine”.

“It is much more patient-friendly. What we found were the results were so much better and so much better for patient satisfaction”.

With the new spine devices, treatment pathways improve as the clinic personnel can do better testing on patients to uncover weaknesses and imbalances. “The David Spine Concept is multi-directional as it tests patients in flexion, extension, right and left lateral bending, left and right rotation, muscular strength balances” says Dr. Knox.

Patient stories: from severe pain to rehabilitation success

In the webinar, Dr. Knox also discusses 4 patient cases which bring up interesting results. Each case has unique spine problems that have caused challenging pain complaints. Thankfully, the David device treatment program at Total Spine was able to help them increase spine strength and mobility and improve the quality of life for each person. The video below begins at the segment where Dr. Knox goes over memorable patient stories. To watch Dr. Knox’s full webinar segment, feel free to begin the video from the beginning!

Interested to learn more? Read another blog on the Total Spine clinic, watch a video about their unique approach, and visit their clinic reference page!