Deadlifts are a commonly avoided exercise, but they shouldn’t be. They are an important part of your baseline fitness, and I recommend all my athletes do them, especially if strength is not a major component of their sport (think runner or yogi vs. CrossFit athletes). However, as with all injuries, if not done with good technique or proper attention to the number of reps and how much weight you are using, you will get injured. This is especially common with deadlifts because you should be able to lift the most amount of weight possible in this position. How do you think cars get lifted off people in heroic feats of strength and adrenaline? It’s a deadlift, albeit an insanely impressive one! Since this is your strongest lift, it’s not usually long until you realize how fun it is to lift heavy things. Once that realization kicks in, it can be tempting to sacrifice good form for lifting volume. Without these considerations, the most common injury you will sustain is a back injury. There are several back tissues and structures you can injure deadlifting, and unfortunately, they are all rehabilitated somewhat differently.
In this video, I explain how to properly deload your back after a deadlift injury.
Disclaimer: This does not cover ALL the considerations of things you can injury with deadlifts. In particular you should be wary of nerve injuries. If you have any: numbness, tingling, pins or needles, loss of sensation in you leg or foot, leg pain (especially if it is both sides), groin pain, or changes in your bowel, bladder, or sexual function, these are serious consideration and you need to consult a local health care practitioner.
For the rest of you, this will help you decide what to do during the deload phase after a deadlift injury.
Back on the National Geographic Explorer, the staff organized an iceberg pareidolia contest. Rules were simple:, take a photo of an iceberg you think looks like something, then submit it to the staff with a creative title of your choosing. The contest allowed for two categories, one permitting photo manipulation with words or simple drawings, the second must be a stand alone shot. I entered the first category, Will entered the second….
Meet PAN-1772, a well traveled whale that has been sighted off the coast of three continents since 2007 - Colombia, Panama, and now by us in Antarctica. We know this thanks to a very cool citizen science website: happywhale.com. As it turns out, a whale’s tail or fluke acts as a unique identifier just like our finger prints. Get a good photo of the fluke…
The ship finally stopped moving both vertically and horizontally, and all human life was starting to emerge from their cabin bathroom floors. We were briefed on our inaugural landing at Barrientos, which is populated by two species of penguins. The excitement aboard was palpable.
As Michael informed us, we were’t about to get off easy. They were predicting impressive six meter swells (which he explained none to reassuringly is actually about medium range for the Drake). It was going to be a rough crossing.
Today on Physio In Your Pocket, my Guest, Coach Dave Anderka, explains some late stage rehab/ return to sport exercises for anyone recovering from a medial elbow injury with kettlebells.