Developed by New Zealand physical therapist Brian Mulligan, the concept of mobilizations with movement has become a popular treatment for musculoskeletal injuries.
The concept of mobilizations in movement in the extremities and sustained natural apophyseal glides (SNAGS) in the spine has advanced physical therapist-applied passive physiological movements and accessory techniques.
What Is The Mulligan Concept?
Mulligan Manual Therapy can be used to help treat a variety of injuries and pain including neck pain, back pain and upper and lower extremity injuries. Designed to reduce pain and improve the patient’s range of motion the Mulligan technique involves Natural Apophyseal Glides (NAGS), Sustained Natural Apophyseal Glides (SNAGS) and Mobilization with Movement (MWM) for the treatment of musculoskeletal injuries.
When applying manual therapy techniques, your physiotherapist will identify one or more comparable signs that may include loss of joint movement, pain associated with movement or pain associated with specific functional activities.
Then a passive accessory joint mobilization is applied, either parallel or perpendicular to the joint plane and the accessory glide is to be pain free. Using various combinations of parallel or perpendicular glides, your therapist will try to find the correct treatment plane and grade of movement.
When done, the comparable sign should be significantly improved by either an increase in the range of motion or absence of pain.