Ep 175 - Managing Radicular Syndrome: MDT and Epidural Injections in Lumbar Disc Herniation with Hans van Helvoirt
Jun 10, 2025
💭” We took away a little bit of that nerve inflammation, and it gave us space to move again. If it’s inflamed, it’s swollen—you can’t move.’’ - Hans van Helvoirt
Our guest, Hans van Helvoirt, BSc, MA, Dip. MDT, is a physical therapist who earned his manual therapy certification in the Maitland Concept in 1990 and completed the McKenzie Diploma in Mechanical Diagnosis and Therapy (MDT) in 1992 in Wellington, New Zealand. He has taught MDT internationally and presented at global conferences since 1993, focusing on its role in the biopsychosocial model and in anesthesiology. Hans works as a consultant at Rugpoli Brabant in Tilburg, the Netherlands, a center for manual medicine and pain management. He collaborates with VU University Amsterdam on MDT-anesthesiology research and serves on the Faculty Council and Public Health Committee of the McKenzie Institute International. In 2017, he received the Institute’s “Bronze Lady” Extension Award for his research.
📚You will learn about:
- How epidural steroid injections affect MDT classification
- The potential of combining MDT with epidural steroid injections to prevent surgery
- Key findings from a randomized controlled trial on the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of this combined approach
- When and which patients' we should refer for epidural injections and more
🔎 Hans van Helvoirt’s resources of information:
- Rapid non-surgical recovery of chronic sciatica and neurological deficit: A case report by Hans van Helvoirt, Charles N Aprill, Ronald Donelson
- Transforaminal epidural steroid injections followed by mechanical diagnosis and therapy to prevent surgery for lumbar disc herniation by Hans van Helvoirt et al.
- Masterclass MDT management of radicular syndrome
- Reliability of the McKenzie Method of Mechanical Diagnosis and Therapy in the examination of spinal pain, including the OTHER classifications Reliability of the McKenzie Method in spinal pain
- Effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of mechanical diagnosis and treatment combined with transforaminal epidural steroid injections for patients on a waiting list for surgery for a chronic lumbar herniated disc: a randomized controlled trial and economic evaluation
📲 Hans van Helvoirt’s contact information:
💻LinkedIn: Hans van Helvoirt, M.A., dip MDT/MT
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