Back Mechanic-VIDEO ENHANCED VERSION

I highly recommend this book for anybody dealing with back pain. I myself have had back problems from years of inappropriate movement patterns and activities. This book breaks down spine hygiene principles and how to apply them in daily life. I strongly recommend readers read about walking. It completely changed my viewpoint on how walking is a cure and how to walk in a way that promotes healing (swinging the arms from the shoulders). Total gem. A great start to understanding the basic fundamentals of the lumbar spine. This, coupled with an assessment from an expert, can change your life.

I have had this book for 25 days. I heard about it on Peter Attia’s podcast. I knew from listening to that podcast that this book was going to help me figure out how to eliminate my back pain that I have had every day for 18 years. I have tried chiropractor which only helped when I went twice a week. I have tried Physical Therapy which didn’t help at all. I have tried strength training which helped somewhat. This book helped me eliminate my pain triggers, learn new ways to move that don’t cause pain, and taught me ways to strengthen and stiffen my core to help me move on spine preserving ways. This book is amazing and brought me such hope and relief!!!

Absolutely outstanding. I have battled back pain for going on 50 years. The tips from this book helped a lot. Get it with the videos. They are very helpful. In the interim, I had a private session with Dr. McGill. Very able professional.

Since I have 2 herniated discs and sacralization, I find myself coming to this book time and time again. Being consistent with the exercises and practicing the proper spine hygiene that I learned from this book has given me so much relief from my everyday pain. I only wish that access to the exercise videos on Vimeo lasted for more than a year

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 ☺.)

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!

There are so many excellent reviews of this book that I was hesitant to add another. If you have not yet read the reviews of the book, please read those, as the Video Enhanced Version is completely reliant on the book. In addition to the book, the Video Enhanced Version gives one year access (on Vimeo) to densely packed information in the form of a collection of 7 videos (total 1 hour 42 minutes) from 2:39 minutes to 26:12 minutes in length that demonstrate the movements and exercises from the book. There are additional variants to some exercises that are not in the book as well. I found the videos essential because I thought I understood the movements and exercises from the book, but after viewing the videos I was able to make critical adjustments that I would have otherwise missed. I recommend the videos as one more tool in the tool box. I'm another 60+year old with a 20+year history of chronic back pain and all that goes with it. I tried many, many, treatments. Back Mechanic empowered me to assess why I continued to have pain, and showed me what to do to fix it. I got IMMEDIATE, results with Back Mechanic because it helped me understand, my particular situation in a way that all of the physical therapists, bodywork practitioners, personal trainers, surgeons, pain management doctors, traditional Chinese medicine doctors, and others simply did not have the knowledge, skill, motivation, or time to provide. I'm not mad at them, I'm frustrated that I didn't find this book/video and apply it at the beginning of this journey. The material looks deceptively simple and is easy to understand but it is also dense with useful information that could be very helpful. Stuart McGill has given us a guidebook that provides clear and specific steps to take to understand, and the actions to take to prevent, relieve, and heal back pain, that is based on a lifetime of research based practice. If you or someone you care about has back pain, give them this book or make them aware of it. Especially gift this book to anyone you know who is planning on having any type of Back Surgery so they can make a fully informed decision.

Dr. McGill is truly a master craftsman of the lumbar spine, specifically the root cause identification of pain sources and the methodical, step-by-step approach to eliminating them. Personally, I suffered from multiple bouts of referred pain in my lower extremities, on and off, for about 8 years. While the constant dull, throbbing pain in my hip, knee, and ankle from sitting in a car for long distance drives was barely tolerable, the worst aspect was the impact on my quality of life. I could not keep up any sort of a normal exercise regimen, either weightlifting or running, before encountering another major pain episode. Following Dr. McGill's approach in Back Mechanic, I was able to identify the offending postures and motions and gradually eliminate the referred pain, over a period of about 2 - 3 months. I am now able to detect the onset of mild pain, trace it to a specific event, and refocus my dilgence to suppress it, employing what Dr. McGill refers to as "good spinal hygiene"! Here are the main things I learned: 1. You are your own best advocate for your wellness. Take responsibility! a. Beware a diagnoses based on imaging alone b. Beware of passive treatments which treat symptoms (shots, pills, ultrasound, etc.) c. Like all therapy, psychological or physical, you must be an active participant d. Develop an active plan to work on your back every day. It's worth it! 2. BBM (Before Back Mechanic), many of the things I did to try to remedy the pain were absolutely wrong and actually making the pain worse a. Yoga and/or various stretches to loosen my back, hip flexors, hamstrings, etc. b. Aggressive icing c. Suspecting, and trying to relieve, Piriformis syndrome 3. My "offending" posture is hip flexion, aggravated by lumbar "rounding", and also by neck flexion a. Sitting in a chair, leaning forward with a rounded back, looking down at my phone. Ouch!!! b. Unconsciously maneuvering into a fetal-like position while sleeping (hip flexion, lumbar rounding, neck flexion) and waking with aching leg pain c. And on and on 4. Actively building a game plan to recover a. Eliminate the bad by exercising good spinal hygiene b. Start gradually with the "Big Three" core exercises c. Slowly increase your "sphere" of mobility At 56 years of age, I'm now back to squatting, deadlifting, swinging kettlebells, and running fast ... sort of. Thank you Dr. McGill!!!