Deadlifts are an incredible exercise to build strength and make your glutes pop, but when performed incorrectly they can also cause lower back pain.
When this occurs, it’s usually an indicator of overtraining or training errors; when symptoms worsen or persist it’s wise to visit a physician. The severity of your pain should serve as a guide as to when this should happen.
Warm-Up and Strengthen
Lower back injuries among weightlifters are unfortunately common, yet with proper rehabilitation most can return to lifting without pain. By warming up properly and practicing correct technique as well as prioritizing recovery you can help protect against injuries when performing deadlifts.
Before beginning your main lifts, it is important to perform a light warm-up incorporating cardio and dynamic stretching exercises. This will get your blood pumping while simultaneously prepping your muscles for work ahead. Begin slowly increasing weight as your strength improves; be aware of how your body reacts throughout this process.
Dynamic stretches can help improve joint range of motion, flexibility and muscle activation before performing movements such as the deadlift that require significant range of motion to complete and engage multiple muscle groups. Some examples of dynamic stretches to include in your warm-up include:
Bracing is another essential element of proper deadlift form. Bracing involves engaging the muscles of your core and lower back to keep your spine stable during a deadlift, including Cable Column Rows or Lat Pull-downs which activate Latissimus Dorsi (known as “the lats”) which helps limit motion in the lower back during a deadlift.
Poorly fitted bracing can put too much strain on the spinal extensor muscles (lumbar paraspinal), leading them to fatigue quickly during a deadlift, leading them to lose control and increase risk of injury.
Rest
The deadlift is an effective exercise to build strength for everyday activities. Not only does it develop the muscles required for sitting upright, but it also engages several additional ones that help support and stabilize your back when lifting heavy objects.
As with any exercise, when performing the deadlift it’s vitally important to pay attention to proper form and listen to what your body tells you. Adopting good technique and stopping whenever necessary when feeling pain can help prevent injuries as well as speed recovery post workout.
Those experiencing back pain after deadlifting should first rest and ice the area to reduce inflammation and swelling, and hence decrease pain levels. Stretch out sore back muscles by performing cat-cow stretches; cat-cow can relieve sore lower back muscles while forward fold can work hamstrings and lower back muscles effectively.
Start light and build up gradually. Many people try lifting more weight than they can comfortably manage, which can cause injuries without proper warm-up and stretching beforehand.
As part of your plan for stability and safety when weightlifting, consider wearing a weightlifting belt to provide support to the muscles and ligaments in your back, helping reduce strain on these areas.
Keep in mind that core musculature should contract while deadlifting. Doing this helps create a natural increase in pressure around the spine that protects from injury; failing to engage the core during a deadlift could put undue strain on your back, leading to pain and inflammation.
Always allow at least a day between deadlift workouts for proper recovery of muscles and ligaments in your back, particularly after repeating exercises such as deadlifting. If lower back pain persists, consult with a medical provider who can determine whether it’s simply muscle sprain or something more serious.
Exercise Correctly
Underperforming the deadlift can put undue strain on vertebral discs and lead to backache, so proper instruction, form monitoring, and not lifting too much weight at one time are vital in order to avoid injury and backache. By performing correctly however, performing the lift can improve posture while increasing capacity to complete tasks that involve bending forward like lifting items off of the ground.
No matter your skill level or fitness level, deadlifting can be a valuable addition to your workout regimen. Proper execution of this lift means contracting abdominal muscles properly to provide natural increase in pressure around spine – acting like corseting for stable vertebrae!
The deadlift is a functional exercise, meaning that it mimics everyday movements in our daily lives. By practicing it at the gym, we teach our bodies how to perform it without straining our backs – making us less likely to sustain injury when lifting groceries out of our cars or carrying shopping baskets in stores.
Misusing the deadlift can place unnecessary strain on the spine and lead to low back pain due to poor posture and arching of the back from bending forward to grab the bar, while simultaneously overloading hip flexors and gluteus muscles.
To avoid this scenario, we advise beginning by performing bodyweight fingertip touches to the floor (or holding onto a weight plate, if your fingers can’t touch), before progressing onto weighted implements. For advanced lifters, reaching one-rep maximum before increasing load should ensure that your muscles can manage it before adding more.
To perform a deadlift, stand with feet shoulder width apart and the barbell in front of you. Take a deep breath, and slowly lower the barbell until it rests at your knees – one hand gripping its top while another grabs underhand or mixed-grip it as you lower.
Weightlifting Belts
As a weightlifter, you know that using too much of your back to lift heavy weights is a common misstep that can cause lower back pain. Since deadlifts provide an incredible full-body workout that strengthens the posterior chain (back, hips and hamstrings), making sure that they provide maximum benefit with no risk to injury is important to ensure optimal performance of this movement.
As well as the mistakes we discussed above, other factors can contribute to back pain caused by deadlifting. For example, excessive stress on the lumbar spine may arise if you lift too much for your strength, fail to warm up properly before lifting, or have preexisting weakness or injury in your lower back region.
Poor technique and posture. Gambino recommends wearing a weightlifting belt when lifting more than 85 percent of your one-rep max to protect against serious injuries caused by increased intra-abdominal pressure during weightlifting, which could cause serious intra-abdominal pressure increases while lifting. Experiment with tightness until it feels strong enough and allows safe lifting.
Even when lifting lighter loads, wearing a belt during deadlifts or other exercises such as squats or pull-ups that involve similar movement can provide extra support for your spine and increase strength gains by simply increasing weight or working harder. Just be cautious not to overdo it with belt use! You’ll still get stronger by simply moving up in weight class or working harder!
As for other treatment options, Wentz suggests trying ice or heat depending on the nature of your discomfort. She notes that joint-specific pain differs from muscle-specific pain in that one often manifests itself through joints while muscle pain could present as overall low back ache or even grip-type sensations. You could also try pelvic tilts and marching with legs while lying on back while performing stretching exercises to build core stability for reduced lower back discomfort – and don’t forget a proper recovery break when needed!
