How increasing muscle mass can reduce joint pain | Peter Attia and Stuart McGill

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This clip is from episode 287 - Lower back pain: causes, treatment, and prevention of lower back injuries and pain with Stuart McGill, Ph.D. Stuart McGill is a distinguished professor emeritus at the University of Waterloo and the chief scientific officer at Backfitpro Inc. (www.backfitpro.com/about-us/) where he specializes in evaluating complex cases of lower back pain from across the globe.
In this clip, Peter and Stuart discuss:
- How stiffness in old age can lead to pain relief
- Why increased muscle stiffness allows for pain reduction
- Why having some arthritis can be a good thing
- And more
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About:
The Peter Attia Drive is a deep-dive podcast focusing on maximizing longevity, and all that goes into that from physical to cognitive to emotional health. With over 70 million episodes downloaded, it features topics including exercise, nutritional biochemistry, cardiovascular disease, Alzheimer’s disease, cancer, mental health, and much more.
Peter Attia is the founder of Early Medical, a medical practice that applies the principles of Medicine 3.0 to patients with the goal of lengthening their lifespan and simultaneously improving their healthspan.
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[@monztermovies]

Dr. Sarno talked about this years ago. They put up MRI’s in front of radiologist and asked them to blindly judge who was in pain and who wasn’t. The results were staggering as they guessed wrong based off of images. There’s so much more than what is measurably visible.

[@mosotheshowstarta7183]

One of the first lessons we learned as medical students is that labs values, imaging and random vital signs rarely drive the clinical decision pathway. These modalities can add significant weight to the patient's signs and symptoms and help guide management. But should not be the sole drive of decision making.

[@davidalcantara8122]

I do spine for a living. I tell people before ordering an MRI that we can’t see pain. We can only see structure. We can see inflammation to a degree also. It’s like trying to look at a picture of a broken TV. There’s no telling what’s going on until you do some diagnostics. It’s staggering when someone tells me they have seen several people for their back and nobody has touched them.

[@HkFinn83]

I’ve read his book. His theory of back pain is it’s all repressed Freudian trauma. Don’t find it convincing but if it works for you…

[@monztermovies]

@@HkFinn83 did you read the great book by Dr. Heathcliff Huxtable?

[@mey7579]

I have been obese my entire adult life. In recent years I have lost 95 pounds but I am still obese. I am 71. My spinal images show severe arthritis in my back, facet joint disease, bulging discs, etc. But while I have had moderate to severe back pain for years, since August 2023 I lift weights five times a week and do two 20 minute high intensity circuits. When I was evaluated for physical therapy in August so I could learn how to exercise safely, the physical therapist was surprised at how strong I was in both my upper and lower body. I believe carrying all the extra weight I’ve carried kept my muscles relatively strong and I am now working to ensure they stay that way. My back pain is actually better as well.

[@armandoacevedo6978]

I’m not a heavy person, but years ago I suffered two devastating car accidents. I had debilitating back pain. My only salvation was long term swimming and later yoga. No Injections or pills could touch my pain. Now, 40 years later I hold to this belief AND practice

[@stephanietoiletpaperbride4484]

Wow wow wow! I LOVE THIS! I’m 68 yo female with kyphosis and no pain…but I’ve always been active. I’m about to start the LIFTMOR system I learned about from you with the blessing of my orthopedic doc and the help of a personal trainer. So excited to build my strength because for years I’ve been told never pick up over 25 pounds since I have osteopenia. Tomorrow is my first session and I can hardly wait. Thank you both so much! You inspire me. 👏👏👏

[@Lucas_Jeffrey]

Love Stuart. Very enlightened researcher, he has changed many lives

[@Iceman-xe7jo]

Proper mechanics via the correct pathway a muscle is engaged and also control of the weight are key factors. If your tempo is slower with 4 sec concentric and eccentric contractions this will allow better adaptation for the tendons and joint over the long haul. People load to much too fast and cause too much trauma too quickly.

[@FINDINGFITNESS101]

I really appreciate the insight Stuart McGill brings.

[@danielleal1037]

Man, these facts are absolutely mind blowing. Not to mention another factor to keep driving one’s will to lift.

[@A-aronTrekn]

Been there in my younger days where neurologist looked at my hurting lower back from weight training x ray /mri- surgery maybe. Follow up visit with intern in room with doctor looking at film s and I hear a kudos for my erector muscles. Doctor asked if I was still working out. Reply - I will keep weight training as long as I am still functional . I have applied this to osteoarthritis of my knees and any other physical ailment as I have turned 60 last year. Movement is key .

[@HadiaAslam-fx5st]

very nice

[@jaimegutierrez5520]

I heal my back pain with the mcgill

[@user-sd8bz2zr5j]

Everyone should strength train. It has to be INTELLIGENTLY. That means: 1. Thorough warm up. 2. BALANCED training meaning youre hitting all body parts equally through a good training program 3. Great form. As soon as you reach failure great form is out the window, so never train to failure until youre very experienced, have a specific plan for when to do it, and on the correct exercises (not on heavy deadlifts and squats). *Anyone starting a deadlifting program should start on a kettlebell.

[@ladymacondray6316]

No Name of Said Surgeon? I feel like those of us with DDD, having a spinal fusion, etc… please? Anyone?

[@williamhartman9]

As a person who is in fear of arthritis and who does manual labor but also trains daily for the past 20 years . This video gives me hope that my future won’t be so painful, I’m just always skeptical of anecdotes. To many questions with not even answers. I sure hope this is true but either way to not physically train your body is down right stupid

[@c2819fnf]

Can or will

[@zealman79]

Squat university references this guy, so he must be good 🥰

[@curious_boy9092]

wrong training itself can cause joint paint too. you need to train correctly. in my experience, low dose training is the best you can do, but we dont stop on light weights, we continue increasing weights over time and thats the mistake, we leaving the "health zone" and then the training itself turns into destroying our body..because we want more and more, and it gets boring to stay on the same weights forever

[@Dylan-ko2gj]

Absolutely and I think it's one of those things that you just have to learn yourself. When you're younger often you want to get bigger and bigger until you realize that continuing to push the weights makes you feel like crap and makes your joints hurt. I made those mistakes in my early 20s and now in my late 20s I still train "hard" but I dont use crazy heavy weights and my priorities are on longevity and pain reduction

[@cryptocaesar8972]

what are you saying wrong to? your post isnt in disagreement to anything in their chat.

[@hasush]

They are not saying anything was wrong in the video but simply stating a common mistake people make

[@scottymackay1801]

You need to increase strength. That isn't achieved by doing 100 reps of lighter weight. Most people's typical injuries occur outside of a gym when lifting a heavy box or something. You're unlikely to be injured if you've been training strength. If you're doing 100 reps with pink dumbbells, then you can get injured. Small increments of weight every training cycle is a good idea. You just have to be smarter with things like axial loading and not do squats one day, deadlifts the next, then RDLs and overhead press the next. Otherwise all you're doing for progression is increasing reps or adding a set? yeah I don't have time for 3hr workouts

[@hasush]

@scottymackay1801 I think the question is .. if you can dead lift 100 kg for 10 reps do you need to keep going further? Should try to increase reps instead of weight? Mcgill stopped dead lifting in old age because it was not worth the risk to reward ratio. It is sufficient to pick up 50kg logs into his wood splitter etc.

[@julieplummer6611]

Prior to the menopause, I was invincible......perfect health! Two years in, I m definately beginning to squeak, certainly in my lower back. Lets just say I m not impressed ........and furious my body is suddenly quite temperamental!😂

[@beemo9]

Sounds like they're saying the solution is to have an active lifestyle, not to build muscle mass though heavy strength training.

[@TB-LivingFree]

ThumbUp& LeaveAComment 4AIgosAll

[@williamhartman9]

Cool story bro . No science in this video as per usual for Attia . Attia is the Joe Rogan of academia.

[@johntu1967]

Do you think this is bad information?