Physio In Your Pocket: Back Pain Deadlifting

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.