In this blog post, you will learn about my client Randy’s journey through back-pain surgery, a ruptured lumbar-disc and how he ended up pain-free and able to perform a 7-minute front-plank!

Randy initially reached out to me in August 2021. He called after being referred to me by his physiotherapist, Girish, a Certified McGill practitioner based out of Edmonton, Alberta (McGill being Dr. Stuart McGill, who is world-renowned in rehabilitating those with severe spinal injuries).

What happened before Randy reached out to me is the interesting part, so let’s start from the beginning.

One morning in 2016, as Randy was getting out of bed, he suddenly experienced pain in his lower-back. After going to the doctor to get it checked out he found out that a disc in his lower-back was contacting a nerve-root (see the image). This injury was most likely caused by years of poor movement habits as Randy hadn’t experienced any previous traumatic injury.

In order to deal with the pain, Randy went for physiotherapy three times per week (the physiotherapists didn’t have any McGill training) for a year with no improvement! Unfortunately, this is all too common as many practitioners apply treatment without actually addressing the cause. After a year of being in constant pain, feeling very depressed and like a cripple, Randy decided that getting surgery was his only option.

Life was good until…

Randy had surgery in Aug 2017 and life was good for a few years until one morning in June 2020, while bent over the sink brushing his teeth, Randy coughed and the disc that had been repaired with surgery ruptured!

Why did this re-injury happen? Unfortunately, the cause of the original injury had not been properly addressed. What likely happened with Randy is that his rounded lower-back-posture (flexed spine), coupled with the cough, put excessive pressure on the disc which caused it to rupture once again.

At this point you can’t help but feel sorry for Randy. He told me that after he re-injured his back, he felt like he was paralyzed as he could hardly move. He lay in bed for two days before being taken to the hospital (in an ambulance) where he stayed for ten days. On his third day in the hospital, he could walk with a walker for a short distance, but couldn’t sit for very long as it was too painful.

Same treatment, zero results…

Once again, Randy went to see some physiotherapists (that were not McGill certified) until February 2021, at which point he began searching for another approach as he was still in pain and had experienced no improvement.

A new beginning…

Randy’s research led him to finding out about Dr. Stuart McGill and his methods. He decided that if anyone could help him, it would be Dr. McGill. After exploring Dr. McGill’s website, Randy found a list of McGill certified practitioners and fortunately found one locally in Edmonton - Girish.

After meeting with Girish and working with him from February 2021 to August 2021, Girish determined that he had done all he could for Randy, and referred him to me to focus on improving Randy’s core strength and endurance, as well as other movement patterns.

As a side-note, Randy was referred to me by Girish because I have been an avid follower and student of Dr. Stuart McGill and his teachings since 2007. Additionally, we had previously met in-person based on our mutual interest in Dr. McGill’s work so we already had built a rapport with each other.

As mentioned earlier, Randy gave me a call in August 2021 and we began working together the following month. Being that Randy had never before worked with a trainer that hadn’t ended up hurting him, he was skeptical before beginning to work with me. It didn’t take long before I gained his trust. I made sure that he was doing his exercises correctly and most importantly, his pain didn’t get worse after our sessions together.

Amazing results…

As I write this on January 29th, 2023 I am happy to report that Randy is doing extremely well. He is now living pain-free and has made some serious progress with his core strength and endurance since he began working with me!

For example, when Randy began working with me, he could only perform push-ups from a standing position using a barbell placed high on the squat-rack (slightly higher than an average table-top). Now, he is not only doing push-ups from the floor, but also sets of 10 push-ups with 25lbs (see the photo) on his back!

His core endurance and strength have improved dramatically. He currently holds the record, out of all of my clients, for the longest front-plank: 7-minutes and 10-seconds!

During our sessions together, the focus is always on proper movement, and any core exercises we do involve absolutely zero movement of the spine (no sit-ups, crunches, side-bends or twisting) as this is the best way to increase core stiffness while minimizing the risk of more damage.

I am very proud of Randy and credit should be given to him as he has been very consistent with his training and is very focused on proper movement. I certainly look forward to seeing him gain more confidence, strength, and endurance as we continue to work together.

What can we learn from this?

The most important lesson here is that, if you have back-pain, you must address the cause first! Applying band-aid fixes such as exercises, silly stretches or even surgery, simply will not fix poor posture and movement habits, period.

With that being said, if you do have back-pain, always consult with your doctor first, but don’t stop there (many doctors simply don’t have the required skill in this area), find a Certified McGill practitioner in your area.

For more information on where to find a McGill-certified practitioner, as well as Dr. McGill’s book on how to treat your own back-pain, please visit backfitpro.com.