Principle Physiotherapy

Back pain can be a real problem, and can stop you in your tracks when training the deadlift. There are many reasons for back pain and most of them are lifestyle factors rather than intrinsic structure issues. This means there is something you can do to improve it.

Are you living like an athlete?

Not many of us can dedicate all our time throughout the week to prepare and train like athletes do. However, we expect our bodies to work as well as an athletes in the gym. With work, studying, family life and socialising most of us do not prepare our bodies well enough to push as hard as we do in deadlift sessions.

This can lead to over working your back and pain developing. Once this has been triggered it can often become an ongoing issue whenever you lift.

Where might you be going wrong?

All or nothing approach – spending long hours at work, sitting at your desk and then hitting the gym in the evening. This does not prepare your body for the task in hand.

Lifting big too often – if you are always adding more weight to the bar then you are likely chronically overloading your body which will lead to injury. Varying your load can be a safe and effective way to maintain a health spine and progress with your training.

Missing important mobility sessions – if you only focus on lifting and do not improve your flexibility and mobility you are not going to progress as well as you would like. Restricted movement can lead to compensation strategies and back pain.

Is technique important?

Technique is often blamed for causing back pain – specifically rounding of the spine when performing a deadlift. Not everyone has the flexibility to have a flat spine when deadlifting, but this doesn’t not mean they should not lift.

As long as you can learn to create tension throughout your posterior Chain (the muscles in your upper back, lower back and hamstrings) you will be evenly distributing the load throughout your body. If not, then you might end up lifting predominantly with your lower back which could lead to low back pain.

Speaking to your trainer about your posterior chain will be a good idea as engaging those muscle as one this is not an easy skill to master and will take some practice.

Now what do you do? Here’s my top tips to overcoming back pain when deadlifting:

· Perform Regular mobility and flexibility sessions

· Spend more time being active throughout your day

· Follow a structured programme that varies in load, reps and sets

· Include rest days in your programme

· get adequate sleep 7-9 hours a night

· Fuel your body with good nutrition to help with energy levels, growth and repair.

· Visit your local physio to help with your recovery and training

If you would like support with your training, we can help you at Principle Physiotherapy. We work within gyms to help you achieve your goals without pain and injury getting in the way. We offer face to face appointments in Chelmsford and the surrounding areas as well as online appointments for anyone further afield.

Thanks for taking the time to read my blog. I hope you enjoyed it.

Many thanks

Dave Adkins

Chartered Physiotherapist