Having Lower Back Pain From Deadlifts? Here's How To Fix It

The deadlift is regarded by many as the king of all exercises. This is a pretty high honor in the fitness community, and its distinction is not unearned. The deadlift is a hamstring, gluteus maximus and lower-back blaster that recruits the rest of your body to remain stable throughout the movement.

Regular implementation of the deadlift into your weightlifting routine will surely lead to gains of size and strength, as long as volume is regularly being increased. However, the heavy load which with the deadlift is performed can open you up to injury.

One of the most common ailments of people performing deadlift and experiencing an injury is lower-back pain. Low-back pain is caused by having stress on your lower vertebral column throughout repeated movements. Here are some common causes of lower-back pain, treatments and preventative measures you can take while deadlifting to avoid injury in the future.

Admittedly, this section should be called, “things you’re doing wrong”, because deadlifting with good form will only bring muscle soreness, not back pain. But I figured I’d be nice and not quite as blunt in my section naming. Anyhow, lower back pain (if associated with deadlifting) is due to one or more of these factors:

This is far and wide the most common mistake people make when deadlifting. When you view the exercise from an uninformed perspective, rounding the back seems like a natural thing to occur. However, rounding the back when deadlifting (or picking anything up from the ground) can cause slipped discs, bulged discs and several other problems with your upper and lower vertebrae. This can cause intermittent, constant and permanent back pain that will stay with you.

The fix: Keep that back straight! Focus on engaging your core for stability, flatten your back and pull that weight up. Feels better, doesn’t it?