January 18, 2021
#270 – Dr. Stu McGill – Protecting Spinal When Working From Home | Modern Wisdom
Key Takeaways
- Find a trained professional who specializes in back pain
- Back pain sufferers: get an assessment, know the cause, address it appropriately, wind it down, and build it back up
- Every system in our body requires movement for signaling and optimal health
- Ask yourself why you lift weights: train for longevity – you are not intended to achieve 5 personal bests in one year
- “Move well, move often.” – Dr. Stu McGill
- Create a reason to move: after every meal, walk 15 minutes
Introduction
Dr. Stu McGill (@drstumcgill) is a professor at the University of Waterloo and an expert in back pain.
In this episode of Modern Wisdom, host Chris Williamson and Dr. Stu McGill take a deep dive into back pain, ancestral differences in back pain, threats and remedies to back pain, and exercise for longevity.
Host: Chris Williamson (@ChrisWillx)
Website for additional information: https://www.backfitpro.com/
Did Our Ancestors Have Back Pain?
- Injury to a join creates laxity so you will lose stiffness which the body uses to control and guide movement
- Instability causes pain and sets off a cascade
- We can only speculate the back pain of our ancestors but there is evidence of misalignment, discogenic back pain, protruding discs, etc.
- It’s likely our ancestors needed to be tougher than we are to live and survive the demands of daily living
- Ancestors possibly had a stronger core and built stability
Biggest Risks To Spinal Health
- Daily life and routines have become very different over the past 18 months
- Too much sitting
- Every system in our body requires movement for signaling and optimal health
- We didn’t evolve to have health with such lack of physical stimulation
- The longer you sit, the more accumulated stress on your body
Work From Home Life
- Manage demand and capacity
- We have to artificially create demand: every time you eat, walk for 15 minutes
- Big three exercises: push ups, air squats, stairs
- “You deserve your pain.” – Dr. Stu McGill
- Change your behavior, change your outcomes
- It’s also not optimal to sit at your desk all day then have a 45-60 minute blow out workout
- “Move well, move often.” – Dr. Stu McGill
Exercise & Training For Longevity
- If someone has spine instability that causes back pain, under load the body can increase pain and shut down the neural drive and the lift will fail
- The brain senses instability and shuts down the origin
- If the knee has instability, the brain will shut down the signal to the knee and the lift will fail
- You are not intended to achieve 5 personal bests in one year
- Ask yourself why you’re training – does your training serve your goals?
- It is possible to be too aggressive in your workouts and overload your capacity at that moment
- Be modest for longevity, pain-free, and fitness – it’s ok not to deadlift 600 pounds
Thought Exercise: Managing Demand And Capacity
- Your body needs the capacity to meet the demands
- If you lay in bed and don’t change posture, you will become uncomfortable
- If you ignore the discomfort, you will feel pain
- If you ignore the pain, you will develop tissue breakdown (bedsores)
- If you have back pain: get an assessment, know the cause, address it appropriately, wind it down, and build it back up
The Role Of Mental State In Injury
- Once you can shift the locus of control to a person in pain, they’re empowered
- After an assessment with a professional and an understanding of pain, you give them the antidote – therapeutic exercises and correct nurturing back to health
