168: Back Pain, Stiffness & Manual Therapy (with Stuart McGill) Listener Favorite

About this episode

Dr. Stuart McGill discusses the importance of biomechanical factors in assessing and treating back pain, challenging the notion of 'nonspecific low back pain'.

🎙What if the key to resolving your client’s back pain isn’t loosening things up — but “adding” stiffness? Dr. Stuart McGill is one of the preeminent back pain researchers in the world, and in this conversation, he makes his case — passionately and controversially — for why biomechanical factors deserve far more attention than they typically get in back pain assessment and treatment. He argues that the label “nonspecific low back pain” masks what a skilled clinician could find with a thorough enough assessment, and that too many patients with real mechanical issues are being dismissed as psychosocial cases. Not everyone in the field agrees, but his perspective is fascinating, clinically detailed, and full of provocative ideas for manual therapists. This episode originally aired as episode 97 and quickly became one of our most popular — a listener favorite we’re bringing back for those who missed it and those who are ready for a second listen. ✨ Topics covered in this episode include: • Why Dr. McGill believes “nonspecific low back pain” doesn’t exist — and how he argues it undermines both research validity and clinical outcomes• The problem with averaging results across…

People in this episode

Hosts: Til Luchau, Whitney Lowe

Guest: Stuart McGill

Topics covered

• back pain
• manual therapy
• biomechanics
• assessment
• psychosocial factors
• clinical outcomes

Keywords

• back pain
• stiffness
• manual therapy
• biomechanical factors
• clinical assessment
• psychosocial diagnosis

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