Deadlifting & Lower Back Pain
One thing that I really try to emphasise to both male and female clients is the importance of a complete gym program.
I often hear- “I don’t train abs because they are worked in other exercises”
“I’m a guy, why would i train glutes?”
“I don’t deadlift because it hurts my lower back”
Many of the injuries that I see and treat in clinic are caused by specific muscle weakness or imbalance, so why would you skip training large parts of your body and risk injury?
Now clearly if you have an established lower back problem, this is something that you should seek out professional help with. However, if normally your lower back is fine but aches excessively after deadlifting then the worst thing you can do is avoid the exercise completely. It isn’t a problem with the exercise, it’s a problem with how you are performing it.
As I said in a recent Instagram post, you wouldn’t stop squatting forever just because your quads ached. So why are we treating deadlifts this way.
The deadlift itself is well known to be one of the best strength and muscle building exercises out there. It works your upper and lower back, glutes, hamstrings, quadriceps, calves, abdominals and the muscles in your arms and shoulders.
Its a great functional strengthening movement meaning that you are less likely to injure yourself when lifting in your daily life. It has been shown to increase testosterone production which helps with muscle growth and repair, and growth hormone which helps with bone strength and weight loss.
Most importantly the number 1 best way to prevent lower back pain is to have strong supporting musculature, and deadlifts are excellent for this. Now where people often go wrong is getting carried away with ego lifting, they lose form and end up trying to pick up weights that are much too heavy. The result? Lower back pain! So instead of avoiding the exercise completely what should you do?
-Take the weight right down so you can nail the form
-Raise the bar up on weight plates to reduce the depth (you are most likely to round your lower back at the bottom of the movement to start with)
-Go low on reps and sets to start (Trust me, it feels fine at the time and so you keep going- You'‘ll suffer later!)
-Build up gradually and listen to your body, have at least 2 days clear between deadlifting
-Try other lower back strength exercises like hyperextensions (In the gym if they have the equipment or over a gym ball works well)
If you don’t like something, you probably aren’t good at it, and that’s an excellent reason to do it more. Don’t be afraid of deadlifts, just do them right!
-Derry
Brighton based specialist musculoskeletal physiotherapist and online fitness coach