Lower Back Pain From Deadlift: Form, Prevention, and Recovery

Here’s what you can do to prevent pain. Start by checking your ego at the door.

WHILE THE DEADLIFT may look simple, it’s an incredibly technical exercise. One wrong move and you might end up hurt. That’s why it’s so common for people to associate low back pain with deadlifting—but if you know what you’re doing, you can pull more safely.

It’s one of the few exercises that requires output from almost every muscle in your body—making it a great compound movement to work into your strength training routine. It’s a standard lift for building strength and size in several muscle groups throughout the body.

Its complexity leaves plenty of room for error, though. It’s a movement that demands attention to every minute detail, especially if you’re trying to pull big weight. It requires a ton of muscle coordination to move safely and fluidly through each rep—that requires just as much output from the brain as it does from the body. Rush through the exercise with little thought process, and the pressure of the load may fall on the lumbar spine instead of your muscles. One of the best tips to a better deadlift, says strength coach Juan Guadarrama, C.S.C.S, is to build awareness of what each muscle group feels like during the exercise. Before you load up the weight, take some time to really experience what the tension through your muscles feels like in each rep.

That tension should feel more centered in some muscle groups over others. Deadlifts are so injury prone because the origin of power generation is often misconstrued, Guadarrama says. It may look like a back exercise to the untrained eye, considering you’re bending down to pick something up off the floor. However, the bend comes from the hips rather than the spine, in order to harness the strength from the glutes and hamstrings to power the movement. The muscles in your back are working, but they’re not the main mover of the exercise.

If you struggle with low back pain while deadlifting, check out this expert-compiled list of common deadlift mistakes and take the time to evaluate your form to prevent further injury.

THE LUMBAR SPINE, or low back, receives the brunt of the pressure of a poorly executed deadlift. And if you’ve ever experienced a low back injury, you know how difficult it is to move through your daily life with the pain.

Back pain when deadlifting might be common, but it shouldn’t be normal, says trainer Tony Gentilcore, C.S.C.S., owner of CORE in Boston. In fact, it’s usually an indication you’re doing something wrong with your lift.

Here’s what you can do to prevent pain. Start by checking your ego at the door.

WHILE THE DEADLIFT may look simple, it’s an incredibly technical exercise. One wrong move and you might end up hurt. That’s why it’s so common for people to associate low back pain with deadlifting—but if you know what you’re doing, you can pull more safely.

It’s one of the few exercises that requires output from almost every muscle in your body—making it a great compound movement to work into your strength training routine. It’s a standard lift for building strength and size in several muscle groups throughout the body.

Its complexity leaves plenty of room for error, though. It’s a movement that demands attention to every minute detail, especially if you’re trying to pull big weight. It requires a ton of muscle coordination to move safely and fluidly through each rep—that requires just as much output from the brain as it does from the body. Rush through the exercise with little thought process, and the pressure of the load may fall on the lumbar spine instead of your muscles. One of the best tips to a better deadlift, says strength coach Juan Guadarrama, C.S.C.S, is to build awareness of what each muscle group feels like during the exercise. Before you load up the weight, take some time to really experience what the tension through your muscles feels like in each rep.

That tension should feel more centered in some muscle groups over others. Deadlifts are so injury prone because the origin of power generation is often misconstrued, Guadarrama says. It may look like a back exercise to the untrained eye, considering you’re bending down to pick something up off the floor. However, the bend comes from the hips rather than the spine, in order to harness the strength from the glutes and hamstrings to power the movement. The muscles in your back are working, but they’re not the main mover of the exercise.

If you struggle with low back pain while deadlifting, check out this expert-compiled list of common deadlift mistakes and take the time to evaluate your form to prevent further injury.

THE LUMBAR SPINE, or low back, receives the brunt of the pressure of a poorly executed deadlift. And if you’ve ever experienced a low back injury, you know how difficult it is to move through your daily life with the pain.

Back pain when deadlifting might be common, but it shouldn’t be normal, says trainer Tony Gentilcore, C.S.C.S., owner of CORE in Boston. In fact, it’s usually an indication you’re doing something wrong with your lift.