Yes, this is about self-help, and maybe the worst kind of self-help: medical self-help. Some editions of this book are probably stocked on shelves next to books on the ill effects of radio waves, or on the use of crystals and rocks in dealing with cancer.

Yet, in the spirit of Illich’s Medical Nemesis, and the desperation induced by a few years of recurrent sciatica, I have decided to wade into the ocean of no-publisher, no-ISBN books, in order to reclaim some pieces of knowledge I usually give up to white coats wearing people and medical PhDs having people. Bien m’en a pris.

(McGill is one of the white coats/MD, and runs what appears to be a successful clinic. Also, his book does have an ISBN. So we still are quite away from the crystals.)

I won’t try and summarize here what amounts to medical advice. He has (what looks like) pretty reasonable ideas and doesn’t overpromise.

Quite simply, he considers that :

• Patients are ill informed about their body and backs. He provides an extensive description of back mechanics. The most striking idea I got from this was the differentiation between limbs and torso. Limbs move while the torso takes the counter-movement in. Meaning : good posture is about maintaining a straight back/torso, and not letting the back be over-swayed by the limb movements. In line with this, he advocates for endurance training rather than strength training: because this is what the small but continuous effort provided by the back and torso calls for.

• Most medical professionals do not diagnose precisely enough back issues. Their prescription is too generic (the usual “be more active, do yoga, build more muscle”) to be efficient. He demonstrates a few self-administered tests to better identify where (which vertebrae) and what the problem is (nerve, disc, muscle…), and provides specific exercises as well as advice on proper form.