Back Mechanic by Dr. Stuart McGill

About 15 years ago, I had surgery and drop foot as the result of an L5/S1 disc herniation due to playing sports. Unrelatedly, I also fell on a tennis court and aggravated L3, L4, L5 on the other side of my spine. All of this caused me to have regular, chronic, low grade pain/sciatica, when it wasn’t outright disabling and hard to even move. Both of these injuries have combined to change my life in dramatic ways. To give an example of how limited my life had become, I had not felt safe to life a gallon of milk for 15 years, much less carrying the recycling bin to the curb. I had tried PT many times, with no success and often getting worse by having setback after setback from poor/ignorant guidance from those inexperienced with working on spine health. I am now in my early 50s, and was preparing for a life of continuous, chronic low back pain and resigned to trying to make the best of a bad situation. That’s when I heard the author Stuart McGill in an interview with Peter Attia (available on YouTube). I bought the book immediately (about 9 months ago), and in a word, this book changed my life. It is so good, I believe it may be able to change yours too, which is why I am writing this extensive review. I am in awe of the amount of gratitude I have for this man, and how his life has helped transformed mine. McGill has studied the spine for some 30 years, having had a research lab at the University of Waterloo. He has worked with back pain sufferers from elite athletes to the non-athletic during this time. The summation, of all that work, all that thought, and all that effort is this book: Back Mechanic. And it's done in super-accessible form. In a word, it is a brilliant, dense, concise summary for those of us who suffer from low back pain, to teach us how the spine works, what the spine needs, and presents a roadmap to getting beyond the pain, and onto a happier, functional life. This book is designed to take us through his entire journey of learning, so that you can begin your own journey to back healing and back health and to live pain free, and maybe even be an athlete again, if that is one of your goals. BACK MECHANIC offers a multi-step program, which starts with learning spine essentials and how to stand, sit, walk, bend, so to not aggravate our back even more. Learning correct movement patterns is absolutely essential to the healing journey. McGill, with descriptions and invaluable illustrations, shows us how. From there, there is a self-assessment that helps one understand better their unique situation, adn then we evenutally get to the justly-famed BIG 3. (NB: It does not suffice to watch YouTube videos of the BIG 3, and assume you are able to replace this book. That’s wrongheaded and misguided. There are a few good ones out there, but they do not rise to the level of comprehensiveness that this book offers. There are no shortcuts.) You want to get his book because it is literally chock-full of pearls of wisdom distilled from his decades of research and applied physiology experience virtually on every single page. (This is one reason that makes the book as valuable as it is dense. There’s a lot here!) All this needs to be integrated in your movement patters and ways of thinking about your spine to have the most likely chance of success. If we are to become our own Back Mechanic, we have to go back to school and get an education. And that education takes time. There’s a TON of information here, to understand and integrate. But you have to put in the work., there’s no way around that fact. For me, it was a leap of faith. I said to myself ‘give it 3 months of my best effort, and let’s see what happens.’ (I didn’t have expectations for an outcome, but I wanted to give it sincere effort.) I spent the first 2 weeks slowly reading the first few chapters, just digesting his approach and understanding how he was approaching the spine, while trying to integrate the best movement patterns into my every day (every hour!) life. (McGill has some unconventional approaches and ideas about the spine that are not universally accepted around yoga, pilates, stretching in general.. to name a few. I didn’t have strong opinions on these things, and put my trust in him as my guide, knowing I had to also take responsibility for what I did with myself, both inside and out of the gym.) After about 6-8 weeks of very diligent and careful integration of these words of wisdom, my chronic, low grade back pain that accompanied me every single AM for years upon years.. and often throughout the day - eventually disappeared. Completely disappeared! From there I learned through experience, that using the BIG 3 correctly, actually helped my back feel better (as predicted in the book) even when I entered the gym feeling some discomfort. This was nothing short of miraculous… but it was actually the outcome of McGill’s commitment to excellent vis-a-vis understanding the spine, and my commitment to deeply understanding the principles and guidance he sets forth.. and making them my own. I also own his 2 other major works: Lower Back Disorders (very specialized and science based.. not necessary unless you want to really get as much information about spine mechanics and health as you can_ and Ultimate Back Fitness and Performance (which is a book for athletes who want to understand Back Mechanic more deeply, and to go beyond the BIG 3 and be thinking about core strength playing sports/lifting heavy.). Am I done? Hell no. I still do the BIG 3, 3-4 days a week, and have additional spine health exercises that I do at the gym on other days. Although I’ve been doing the work for nearly 7 months now, I am not actually at the last stages of the BIG 3 yet.. in other words, despite my successes (which are dramatic and life giving), I still have several months to go before I’ve integrated all of the wisdom/exercises outlined in Back Mechanic. That’s when I’ll move on to Ultimate Back Fitness. This is a book to help you in your life.. and it is a book to have for the rest of your life. Thank you Dr. McGill! Those of us whom you have helped over the years, are deeply indebted to your love affair not only with understanding spine mechanics, but to your brave commitment (when taking on conventional wisdom) to share your understandings with the rest of us. It’s an inspiration to us all. Want to change your life by healing your back?… Buy this book, and give yourself a chance to heal.