Biomechanist Professor Stuart McGill -Part 1

In this episode of ‘Interview the Expert’, we speak with Professor Stuart McGill. Professor McGill headed up the Spinal Biomechanics Lab at The University of Waterloo, Ontario Canada. He spent decades researching lumbar spine function, injury and the application of optimal movement mechanics.

Topics include:

1:17 - How do you determine when to refer a patient for surgery (obviously ruling out red flags)?
6:22 - Do you tend to know very early on when patients will fail conservative treatment options?
7:32 - Do you see a lot of post surgical patients?
9:20 - PTSD psychologically can be at the forefront for post operative patients.
12:25 - Surgeons do seem to remove themselves from procedures.
12:58 - Ongoing symptoms post surgery. Do your rehab. This needs to be appropriate. Causation element is being missed. Adjacent segment issues are often missed. Often looks fine on imaging.
18:50 - It is VERY difficult to identify a pain source from scans alone.
19:38 - Reducing Adjacent Segment Disease (ASD).
25:25 - Having a fusion procedure does not mean ASD is a definite for the patient.
26:03 - Degenerative disc disease does not exist.
26:40 - If you can communicate the right force profiles (i.e. force, pressure, bending tension etc..) then bone, collagen and tendons can adapt. This is real science and a pain free state is possible.