Back Mechanic by Dr. Stuart McGill

Apparently none of the 15 or so orthopedic surgeons, physical therapists, acupuncturists, massage therapists, chiropractors, or any other doctors or experts who I have seen over the past 4 years thought to bring certain simple and basic concepts to my attention as regards my lower back pain. I have some herniated discs and pain and stiffness comes and goes. I was really getting upset the other day and found this book on a Reddit thread. READ THIS BOOK!!! Little did I know that super minor movements and habits that I tended towards, were making my life worse. He teaches many little habit adjustments to change the way you go about your daily life, which have made a massive improvement for me within days!! Not all of the recommendations apply to me but if you have lower back pain this book is well worth a read, I will need to read it 3 times probably as it is very dense with useful information about your back anatomy, movement patterns, special exercises, all sorts of tips.

This book has been extremely helpful in understanding back problems. It’s easy reading with lots information. I highly recommend reading it if you suffer from any type of back problems.

TLDR: 30 years of occasional back pain suddenly turned into 3 months of chronic pain. Nothing helped until I followed Dr. McGill’s advice in the "Back Mechanic”. For the first time in my life, I have been pain free for 18 months! Here are details of my back pain adventure in hopes they will help someone else. I have been an athlete (running, road and mountain biking, nordic and alpine skiing) all of my life. Since age 20 I have suffered occasional lower back pain: sometimes prolonged, sometimes extreme. During the past 30 years I tried physical therapy, ultrasound, acupressure, acupuncture, dry needling, and chiropractic treatments for my back. None had any lasting effect. At age 51 the lower back pain moved into my upper left buttock and became intense, chronic, and debilitating. Oxycodone did not relieve it. I always understood the back pain was muscular and I self-diagnosed the chronic pain as piriformis syndrome (pain radiated down the outside of my left leg). However, an MRI eventually convinced me that the source of pain was from a severe herniated disc (L4-L5) pushing on the left nerve root. Draining the herniation with a needle and possible surgery were recommended. Determined to avoid surgery, I began a quest for an alternative remedy. I read “Treat Your Own Back” by Robin McKenzie and followed his exercises and stretches. They did not help me, although I understand they do help some people. I then read “Pain Free” by Pete Egoscue and followed his exercises and stretches. They did not help me at all. Finally, a friend recommended the “Back Mechanic” by Stuart McGill and it changed my life. I read the entire book, stopped stretching, learned to avoid flexing my spine, and began doing his “Big Three” exercises daily. Within 2-3 weeks the pain went away and I was able to slowly begin running, biking, and skiing again. I have become convinced that my poor posture while sitting at a desk or driving in a car was a primary cause of the herniation and pain. With the book’s help, I completely changed my posture (both sitting and standing) and no longer slouch. Ever. It took me months to build up the lower and upper back strength to maintain proper posture for hours on end, but now it feels second nature. Following McGill’s recommendations, I almost never flex my lower spine (even while tying my shoe or picking up something on the ground). Most importantly (I think), I continue to perform his “Big Three” exercises every day (although I allow myself to occasionally miss days). The daily exercises are a big commitment for me: they take 30 minutes. But they are mindless and I enjoy listening to a podcast while doing them. Had it not been for the months of chronic pain I would never have had the discipline to follow all of McGill’s advice for the past year and a half. But the pay-off has been enormous. I have more core strength than ever before in my life and am able to safely lift and move large heavy objects (like a 24-ft aluminum ladder) and mountain bike aggressively without fear of throwing out my back. Thanks to the “Back Mechanic”, I have gone 18 months with no back pain (the longest period of time since I was 20).

My Physician recommended that I purchase this book. I did and it is Amazing information about how to help me correct my own back.

My wife has occasionally severe back pain. After an initial diagnosis of a herniated disk, she worked herself into years of mostly pain free. Then the pandemic hit and it has been repeated bouts of on and off pain. After reading the book, it is clear that it was the behavioral changes post-pandemic that are to blame. The author makes the concepts around back pain understandable and remedies actionable.

My ortho recommended I get this book to get a better idea of what is going on with my back and how to correct my bulging disc and disc protrusions. The author describes 3 favored movements to correct back problems but as my PT said, it is a cookie cutter approach to all backs rather than specific exercises to what works for me. It is pricey. I found it to be more of a graduate level read. Glad i have it as a resource but not a must have, for me.

I loved the simplicity and clarity of this book. McGill also has a book for clinicians and one for athletic performance. So make sure you get the one that matches your goals. I am also reading his performance book and getting a lot out of it also

Book seems fantastic, but I literally cannot read parts of it because this proprietary Kindle app for Macbook (that I am forced to use) cuts off parts of pages with illustrations! The same problem occurs through Kindle's web-based reader, as well. Deeply frustrating, to not be able to read something I am excited about reading, and I paid Amazon good money for. I guess I wouldn't have this problem if I bought the physical printed book. Buyer beware.

Normally I can go to the chiropractor and in a few visits I'm fixed up. This last round of back pain my back was just stubborn and no matter what I did it wasn't getting better. I tried tons of exercises and nothing worked. With this book I figured out an exercise for it that fixed it up in a week after months of suffering.

This is a great book if you are at the beginning of your journey to back recovery. I was in the middle of it when I finally bought the book. Should have purchased first. There are great explanations and steps to take on the long journey to back pain recovery.

I'll preface by saying I'm not a physical therapist, I have not been diagnosed with disc problems, and I don't have significantly impairing back pain presently. I bought this book first for a friend who had a herniated disc. We're both in our 30's, he told me about his problem and how impaired he'd become. I couldn't get him to a physical therapist but I could send him a copy of this book. He still has some back pain, but he worked to reduce it to a level he could tolerate using the material herein. Now when we talk he doesn't mention his back much, if at all. He installs windows, so his job is very physically demanding. I also purchased a copy to give to a guy I worked for very briefly. He had numerous significant medical issues, not the least of which were spinal problems that limited his time standing and moving about to less than two hours. His heart also wasn't well, and that limits capacity for training one's self. He seemingly felt himself beyond my advice and that of this book, and didn't want to read it. I do not know if he was correct in his determination. I've also read a good bit of this book in attempt to address my postural pains that come and go. I wanted to power through and finish it, but.. my apologies, I really dislike the writing style and organization. Admittedly, I'm not literate enough to expand accurately on that. I'm a 10 year automotive mechanic and the son of a 40+ year HVAC contractor. My passion for automotive is centered on troubleshooting. I think about things in the format of mechanical operation, and I find it necessary to understand function of individual components of a system before tackling systems as wholes. Dr.McGill seems to have the same bend. He admittedly struggled getting his knowledge translated into writing, but found the information so valuable that it had to be done anyways. I have to agree with him. Much of the message herein is identifying problems, isolating them, and developing means to work around them. The ideology is spine preservation through minimizing non-essential movement and capitalizing on the benefits of rigidity/stiffness. He wants to turn crippled people into strong pillars. It is a unique and effective strategy if you can accept the premise: You will not move like you used to. You will have limitations and your minimal pain/pain-free status will be dependent on diligent maintenance. If you can accept that, you're likely to find a way to reduce your pain in this book. TL/DR: This book helps you identify your problem, and teaches you how to get out of or prevent pain by becoming stiff, and how to move about as a stiff person. It is a necessary alternative for those who find themselves unable to address their back problems by other means, and it is in some cases an alternative to surgery (fusing discs), which simply forces stiffness. But supplementing surgery requires discipline, accuracy of diagnosis, and an understanding of the fault. What's missing is an explanation of why flexibility works for some, and why an uninjured person should pursue stiffness v. flexibility. What's wrong is the use of the phrase "...get your swagger back."

I got this book because my doctor recommended it for my back. However, some things are hard to understand on how it’s supposed to be done. What is a good book of good quality

The Kindle version has formatting issues because there are lots of insert blocks which are treated as images. Sometimes only part of the image displays, or part of the text afterward is missing.

I recommend this book highly. I have had back problems on and off since I was fifteen. In recent years I became a fan of the McKenzie method, as the extensions worked very well for me. But about eight months ago I aggravated the back cutting down some trees, and while the extensions provided temporary relief, it didn’t last. Fortunately, I was mostly experiencing an annoying discomfort rather than pain, but symptoms worsened in that they moved to the feet, and I frequently experienced sciatica. I went to the doctor and got an xray and an MRI that were pretty discouraging, and then I learned of this book on a blog hosted by a physical therapist named Chad Reilly. It makes a lot of sense and although I am not a medical professional, it seems to me to be a very intelligent work. One of Dr. McGill’s main points is that back pain has specific and highly individual causes, and the first step is to recognize what is causing your pain and then stop doing it (or start doing it, if something that you’re not doing is the problem). I was already paying a lot of attention to posture, but I started paying much more attention and have been able to make improvements. For example, sitting in some chairs bothered me while sitting in others didn’t. I thought I was sitting the same way in all the chairs, with good lumbar support, but then I noticed that different seat heights made a difference, as did the angle of the seat back, and the kind of work I was doing. Leaning forward just a little was a trigger. I am surprised to see that even small differences matter quite a bit, and now I am usually able to adjust my seated posture so as to eliminate symptoms. I also think that there is overall improvement, as there are longer periods when I don’t think about my back. Months ago if I felt symptoms while sitting, I just thought, “Well, that’s my condition.” Now I think about what it is that’s causing the symptoms and try to make a change. One specific example: Sitting in my living room recliner was bothering me, so I bought an outdoor zero gravity recliner (wide so that my arms are not on the rests) and use a lifesaving cushion because it’s solid and a firm piece of foam for lumbar support—perfect. Now I’m trying to figure out how to modify the living room recliner to mimic the lawn chair. Not quite there, but I’m sitting in it as I write and it’s better than it was. Second, I like the exercises and the gradual approach he recommends, as well as the attention he pays to the individual nature of back problems. I haven’t been doing the exercises long enough, or consistently enough, to know that they are making a difference in symptoms, but they certainly are not making things worse, and in any event they allow me to do some conditioning without aggravating things. I should also mention that there is a section on self-evaluation that makes sense, but I was already pretty sure of what my intolerances are, so I didn’t really go through the evaluation. This reminds me that although it’s not a huge book, there is a lot to it, and I think it is worth reading carefully, and rereading. Two final points: McGill has a number of videos online, and I have found it helpful to watch some of them because he expands some points and clarifies others that I did not fully understand. I find it a very encouraging book, which is important in itself, especially if you are going to be your own Back Mechanic.

50 years ago, a football back injury ( spondylosis L5/S1) gave me much to overcome in maintaining the fitness required to compete at the national and world level in my age group in sprint cycling. Weightlifting has carried me very far in this regard, but attempting to “have it all “ has led to injury and overuse , forcing me to live with symptoms related to bulging discs, two annular tears, moderate stenosis, and spondylosis leading to spondylolisthesis, extension intolerance and radiculopathies. I reject the option to correct these conditions with surgery. I recently searched out the most elite sport coaches and asked if there was an expert they recommended that would support a non-surgical, self motivated solution to my ills. Stuart McGill was universally mentioned as the highest regarded spinal rehab authority. From world class cyclists with herniated discs to a world’s strongest man competitor with crushed vertebrae, Stuart McGill has proven his rehab methods can often repair career ending spinal problems and return athletes to winning form without surgery or pain. “The Back Mechanic” is Stuart McGill’s primer for the back-injured masses. The book explains in detail what it takes to return your back to health by your own means. Included is proof for his theories, back myths dispelled, specific methods to strengthen the back, the best way to treat the injuries, and how to avoid movement patterns that got you into this mess to begin with. The book is easy to read. Every word has weight. Every section of his book is equally important. Bits and pieces of what McGill has devised have begun to sneak into rehab culture, but never before so logically laid out with the correct importance and scientific studies to back them up as in this book. Never before has so much of what you thought was true proven to be so wrong. I dug into “The Back Mechanic” and adopted its methodology. After about 3 months, the awareness that my back health was compromised was gone. It now has been 6 months of adhering to “The Back Mechanic” and I can report that my back feels “bulletproof” to everything that upset it before. I am again in the top 1% of strength among serious weightlifters that are my age and weight. I am able to continue my fitness sports without pain. I consider testimonials pretty useless from a scientific point of view. But virtually every athlete who has gone the McGill way has improved enough to continue their sport. What is the alternative? Surgery, drugs, more surgery, giving up what we love? I am convinced that whatever your back problems are, if you are patient and apply yourself, that “The Back Mechanic” is the only book that provides all of the tools to continue doing what you love, athlete or not, young, or old, and with much less chance of needing surgery.

For those of us trying to live with chronic pain, anything that helps even remotely is welcome, which is why I titled this review the way I did. Some people clearly have amazing success with this book, others had none - I'm in the middle I guess. I have osteoarthritis, severe stenosis, disc issues...the list goes on, I won't bore you. Anyone checking this book out already knows how long that list can be. I've had this book for months and waited to review it to see if it truly helped. I have followed this faithfully and I can say I DO have less pain for longer stretches of time than I had before. Which is a gift. Before I read this I never paid that much attention to all the little ways I move throughout the day and this book is very big on POSTURE, which I believe has helped. I went from the "I cannot live like this" level of pain to more often a nuisance, manageable pain. However, I do still have those very bad days/moments, the pain that brings tears to your eyes. But the fact that I can move more and do more with less pain at all is saying a lot for me. I've wasted a ton of money on all the things you're all familiar with - therapy and doctors and gadgets, even a new mattress and chairs! My credit card might never recover! But when you are in agony you will try almost anything. I stopped short of trying the epidural shots, otherwise I've pretty much tried it all. I could have saved money if I started with this book. I agree with those who say the illustrations in some cases need improvement. I'm sure buying the DVD along with this book would be more helpful, but I just bought the book. I've found that watching how I move, along with doing the exercises, has helped almost narrow my pain down to specific areas. And having done my own research I clearly also have issues with tensor fasciae latae and glute medius pain. Both contribute to lower back and hip/thigh pain. This book does NOT address that, but I believe it helped me figure out more of what is going on with me. I will also mention I am managing with no medications. I'm terrified of narcotics and I cannot stomach nsaids at all. Frankly, all over the counter pain relievers bother my stomach (gastritis) at this point. Be aware that you do need to, as always, pay attention to what your body tells you because some of the recommendations in the book absolutely aggravated my pain. It has taken time to see what I can draw from this book that actually works for me. This review is on the longer sided, but I wanted to share as much as I could think of for those of you considering this book. Back pain is so complicated and the causes vary so much. I can only share that I do believe this book has helped me get to a better place than I was before. I hope every day to truly live a pain-free life. I'm not there, YET, but I AM at least further away from the despair I had been living with.

This book is helpful and comprehensive. For the amount of pain and suffering a back injury can cause, this is worth the read-through and practice.