Exploring the Root Causes of Chronic Back Pain and What to Do About It with Dr. Stuart McGill
May 8, 2024
02:04:02
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Dr. Stuart McGill, an expert on back pain, dives deep into the prevalence and drivers of chronic back pain in the modern world. He discusses the importance of movement, stress management, and tissue damage prevention. The episode explores the impact of improper movement on spine health and emphasizes the significance of tailored exercises to address individual root causes of back pain.
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Quick takeaways
Proximal stability aids in core strength and athleticism for efficient movement patterns.
Big Three core exercises are effective in training core stability and muscle memory.
Customized stability training is crucial for managing joint impairments and preventing injuries.
Balancing stiffness, mobility, and control is essential for optimal movement patterns and joint health.
Deep dives
The Importance of Proximal Stability for Core Strength
Ensuring proximal stability is crucial for core strength and overall athleticism. The linkage of segments and joints in our body requires proximal stiffness to unleash distal athleticism. Proximal stability allows for efficient movement patterns and optimizes muscle engagement, enhancing movements like pushing, punching, kicking, running, and carrying loads.
Key Exercises for Core Stability: The Big Three
The 'Big Three' core exercises, such as the bird dog, side plank variations, and specific abdominal exercises like planks and modified core exercises, were found to be highly effective in training core stability. These exercises spare the spine from excessive compressive loads and focus on creating muscle memory for optimal muscle activation, transferring strength gains to real-life activities like child-pick up and daily movements.
Customized Stability for Injured Joints
For joints that have been previously injured or damaged, additional control and stability are required. Exercises like the 'Big Three' cater to this need by providing controlled movements that spare injured areas from excessive stress, promoting joint health and functional strength. Customized stability training is essential for managing joint impairments and preventing further injuries.
The Role of Stiffness and Mobility in Efficient Movements
Stiffness, mobility, and control play key roles in executing efficient movements. Maintaining the right balance of stiffness and control allows for optimal movement patterns while ensuring joint health and functionality. The interplay between flexibility and stability is crucial for performing daily activities with ease and reducing the risk of injury.
Importance of Spine Control and Stability in Preventing Injuries
Ensuring adequate spine control and stiffness is crucial when engaging in activities that demand physical exertion to prevent stress concentrations that may lead to injuries. Monitoring spine movements, especially during tasks like lifting heavy loads, reveals the impact of insufficient stability on injury occurrence. Exercises like the 'big three' focus on training patterns in pushing, pulling, and lifting, emphasizing the significance of maintaining proper control and stiffness to avoid injuries.
Adapting Modern Lifestyles to Include Functional Movements
Incorporating functional movements into exercise routines is essential due to the modern lifestyle's shift away from natural physical activities. Traditional activities like squatting, bending, and carrying loads outdoors were inherent in past routines, fostering core engagement and body pressure naturally. With current sedentary habits, specific training is necessary to compensate for the lack of natural movement patterns, focusing on core engagement and pressure creation.
Balancing Strength, Endurance, and Mobility in Training Cycles
Training cycles structured around strength, mobility, and cardiovascular exercises offer a comprehensive approach to fitness. Periodizing workouts in two-week cycles with a focus on the big three exercises, mobility training, and cardiovascular workouts optimizes physical resilience and performance. Balancing targeted exercises with rest periods and adjusting routines based on individual goals ensures a well-rounded fitness regimen promoting longevity and overall health.
Back pain is a common affliction exacerbated by our modern and sedentary lifestyles. This discomfort frequently hinders work and daily activities. Our guest today delves into the back's anatomy, identifying movements—or lack thereof—that contribute to pain and discussing factors contributing to its increasing prevalence.
Today, on The Dhru Purohit Show, Dhru and Dr. Stuart McGill delve deep into back pain. Dr. McGill shares insights into why back pain is so prevalent, dispels myths surrounding it, and discusses the types of repetitive stress and strain that can lead to chronic pain. He also outlines his approach to treating back pain and highlights the limitations clinicians face in treating their patients.
Dr. Stuart McGill is a distinguished professor emeritus at the University of Waterloo and the chief scientific officer at Backfitpro Inc. McGill has written more than 300 scientific publications on the topics of lumbar function, low back injury mechanisms, investigation of tissue loading during rehabilitation programs, and the formulation of work-related injury avoidance strategies. He has received several awards for his work, including the Volvo Bioengineering Award for Low Back Pain Research from Sweden.
In this episode, Dhru and Dr. McGill dive into (audio version / Apple Subscriber version):
The prevalence of back pain (00:00:36 / 00:00:36)
Drivers of back pain in our modern world (3:17 / 3:17)
Repetitive stress and strain that leads to back pain (12:00 / 8:36)
Types of training and how to choose what is best (22:00 / 17:50)
Dr. McGill’s Origin story (34:00 / 28:00)
The myth of non-specific back pain (49:00 / 43:50)
How to find an appropriate clinician (57:00 / 52:17)
The Big Three principles to prevent back pain (1:04:00 / 59:06)
Ancestors ability to engage in a variety of movements (1:15:00 / 1:10:10)
Training in cycles (1:23:00 / 1:18:27)
Advice for Dhru’s pain (1:33:00 / 1:28:00)
Dr. McGill’s Seven-Day Approach (1:37:00 / 1:32:30)
Strengthen what is weak and stretch what is tight (1:47:00 /1:52:30)
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