What Is The Best Deadlift For Low Back Pain?

Low back pain is VERY complex topic, there are many different concepts to address (heck, I’ve done that on a host of different blogs). One that I think I may have not addressed enough is something more simple that can make a BIG difference, that is deadlifts and low back pain. 

If you listen to social media, then having people deadlift is a no brainer. Like most things, it isn’t necessarily an open and closed case, plus there is much more to consider. What DOES the research say about deadlifts and low back pain? 

A 2021 paper said, “There is minimal evidence that exercise programs that included deadlifts are a clinically effective option for the treatment of low back pain for both pain scores and functional outcome measures.” (PMID: 33626500)

A 2015 paper found, “Thus, for strength and conditioning professionals who use the deadlift as a rehabilitative exercise for individuals with mechanical low back pain, it is important to ensure that clients have sufficient back extensor strength and endurance and a sufficiently low pain intensity level to benefit from training involving the deadlift exercise.” (PMID: 25559899)

So, there are some essential things to know about using deadlifts with low back pain. 

Key #1: Good Core Stability Is Necessary

Good core stability and endurance is actually a very necessary foundation for finding benefits from deadlift training. It is not just we are trying to build the foundational stability and endurance of the trunk that will help transfer to doing deadlifts better, but exercises like those below also demonstrate motor control that is required to help people improve their low back pain. 

 

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Key #2: Learn How To Use The Feet & Lats

I would often get people coming to me from fitness enthusiasts to strength athletes that all complained about low back pain when they performed deadlifts. The first two places we would start is the feet and the lats. The feet were our foundation because they impact EVERYTHING up the chain of the body. 

Using the cue “press into the ground” when it comes to using the feet and/or grab the ground with the feet really helps people realize that the ground is essential in really understanding how to control their body. Not only does it reduce pain, but improves strength dramatically. 

The lats are often heavily cued in elite lifters with exercises like deadlifts, but most don’t know why and others miss this incredible and simple idea. The lats actually work with the glutes and core muscles to help create stability of the spine through the use of the Posterior Oblique Sling. Simply getting people to use the feet and lats can completely change someone’s back pain with deadlifting.

 

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Key #3: Elevate Your Deadlift

This is also one of the simplest and most effective ways to help to build strength while preventing issuing with the low back. The fear of getting into the deadlift position can actually trigger pain symptoms so reducing pain by elevating your deadlift can be extremely effective. You can use reducing the height that you elevate as a means of increasing intensity. 

Key #4: Don’t Live Off Bilateral Deadlifts

Contrary to many, I think bilateral deadlifts are only good for patterning, some really foundational strength/motor control, but not long-term in keeping trying to build more and more weight. Partly, this is because that people can hide a lot of compensations if we focus too much on bilateral deadlifts, plus there are a host of additional benefits we can achieve by progressing to other deadlifts. 

This would include greater foot/ankle, hip, and core stability, multi-planar strength, deceleration training, and more. All these qualities have a large impact not on just reducing stress on the low back, but INCREASING the strength that has a direct relationship to helping issues of low back pain and reducing risk of future occurrences. 

Research has shown that by using these strategies you can reduce the stress on the low back and INCREASE the stress on the muscles we are trying to work like the glutes and hamstrings (PMID: 34055137)

Hopefully through blogs like this, you see the answer to the question to “do deadlifts help low back pain” have much more nuance than yes or no. If you use these strategies though you can greatly increase your ability to make a positive impact on low back pain and having deadlifts be a part of that. 

Want to learn more about chronic pain and evidence based solutions? Don’t miss our upcoming FREE webbing March 18th at 3pm EST HERE

 

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