Back Mechanic-VIDEO ENHANCED VERSION

I would highly recommend this book to anyone experiencing back pain. This book was truly a lifesaver for me, and has allowed me to live a pain free life. Professor Stuart McGill has condensed over 30 years of expertise on the spine, into a single volume that is accessible to the layperson. About fifteen years ago, I first threw my back out. I didn’t know what hit me, the pain was so intense I couldn’t move. I spent 8 years in the military, but this was a different kind of pain. It would take me thirty minutes just to get onto my feet, and my back was convulsing with spasms intensely. I thought I had broken my spine. After three days of this, my husband took me to the emergency room. There, they gave me powerful painkillers and shot me up with cortisone and sent me home. This took care of the pain, but was not a long-term solution.For the next year, I tried everything to fix my painful back. Acupuncture, massage, yoga, elliptical cardio, nothing worked on a long-term basis. I went from an athletic person who ran 40 miles a week, to not able to put on my own shoes. From embarrassment of asking my husband for help, I started wearing slip-on shoes. Only in my 30s at the time, I thought my body had betrayed me and was broken. Even breathing was painful, and I never knew when my back would get stuck in extension, so that I was barely able to move.Eventually, I tried physical therapy, which helped greatly but I was still in a lot of pain. Then, after reading “Crooked” by Cathryn Jakobson Ramin, where she chronicles her experience with back pain, I found Professor McGill’s books. It took me two days of serious study to go through the Back Mechanics book, including the self assessment to realize I had flexion intolerance. Finally, I had a diagnosis and understood why I was in pain and what I needed to do to fix it. No doctor in fifteen years was able to do this for me. Professor McGill explains how to avoid your pain triggers, how to move again without compromising your spine. He provides exercises to strengthen your core, that must be done daily and can simply be incorporated into any workout. Today, thanks to Professor McGill, I am stronger than ever and do daily bodyweight callisthenic workouts, love to go on long walks, and am in the best shape of my life (apart from right after basic training of course ☺.)

As a massage therapist, I have recommended this book to a number of clients with low back pain. This book is written in a clear, accessible format with exercises, changes to posture and other, and body awareness that should be fairly simple and straightforward for most people to implement. The author does a clear job of explaining why much of the conventional wisdom regarding back pain and advice about what to do for it is actually not helpful and in some cases causes more problems. Some easy adjustments I made in my own environment in regards to sitting and picking things up off the floor have actually made quite a bit of difference and I am pretty body and ergonomic aware. If you are a clinician, you might want one of his more detailed and robust versions geared towards clinicians. But for most people this book will probably be just about right.

I love this book. The methods listed are clear and easy to follow. You are different from me, you are unique, and Dr. Stuart McGill addresses different methods for different pains. I personally have to avoid laying on my stomach, it is a trigger. You will have to work for your recovery to return to a pain free state. Do your physical therapy everyday: breathe and brace, and stick to your movements. It took me 3 months to get to a point where I could off daily advil dual action use, novicane patches, and capsaicin cream. I finally ditched the back brace. It was worth it to avoid the pitfalls that surgery presents. Dr. Stuart McGill saved my life. I hope this book will help you too.

This book is great, but the text color is hard for me to read and the page margins are too small. The text starts to go into the crease and can be hard to read at the seam. But the information in this book is great. As someone with chronic neck, back, and leg pain and nerve issues, I’ve learned a lot to help manage my pain and symptoms.

So important to order the video enhanced version. So helpful

I gotta tell you. This book isn't cheap and I took my chances. I have had lower back issues most of my life and now being 60 years old its finally caught up with me. I tried many/all of the standard back exercises that I had been exposed to. Little did I know, after reading this book, that they were all wrong and likely contributed to the demise of my lower back. Before you buy this, you can Google the authors name, Dr. Stuart McGill, and try out his Big 3 exercises. However, the book explains so much more about our every day posture and movements that keep the back pain from ever truly dissipating. He also provides tests you can do on yourself to find the sweet spot of your posture. I found, for example, that sitting for any period of time left me with so much pain I could not stand up, upright, upon rising from a chair. I had to slowly stand up. I now use a cushion on my chairs that has helped immensely; but you have to find the right size. I made the mistake and got one that arched my back too much. Lastly, keep in mind that this is all about not only correct posture in standing sitting and walking, but also every day movements and he even touches on some workout moves performed with correct form. Its all about spine sparing and stiff spine vs the normal PT stuff of providing flexibility to your spine. Supper important distinction. Very counter to the PT culture. If you are an athlete (and I am one) he offers another book you may want to check out after this one. (I also purchased the video series that actually explains all this further and shows you how to do certain things - well worth paying for that upgrade). THANK YOU DR. STUART MCGILL!