How to Deal With Back Pain After Deadlift
Back Pain After Deadlift
Deadlifts are my favorite core exercises for building my back and gluts, but I can’t stop wondering why do I end up having back pain after deadlifts sometimes?
One of the most common injuries in the back after deadlifts is muscle-related injury and includes muscle soreness. Researching more about deadlift and back pain I found the following answer. Back pain after deadlifts often happens because of poor muscle activation/technique or overloading. That means that some muscles in the back are more active than they should be, or that the training program is inadequate. Let’s find out what that means and what we can do with it.
What is Muscle Related Injury?
Muscle-related injury is a broad term that describes any type of injury in muscle tissue. Muscle strain or rupture is an example of a muscle-related injury.
There are two types of muscle-related injury, acute and chronic.
Chronic injuries last longer than a few weeks or months, while acute ones are more recent, lasts about a week, and are usually connected with some activity or accident.
Back pain after deadlifts is a result of acute muscle injury in most cases. If left untreated, it can easily become chronic muscle pain and reduce the function of the low back area.
Why Does Back Hurt After Deadlifts?
As mentioned above, I have realized that most people have back pain after deadlifts because of two things: inadequate technique or too much weight on that bar.
When I think closer, those two are very much connected and dependent on each other. It’s easier to maintain a good technique if a person doesn’t reach out for more weight than he or she can handle.
Poor posture or limited range of motion in hips and back can increase the risk of back pain after deadlifts. It’s not a deciding factor, but it can influence muscle activation when performing deadlifts.
Poor Muscle Activation and Technique with Deadlifts
A deadlift is a basic exercise for beginners and advanced training enthusiasts, but they rely on complex movements in the back, hips and legs.
Primary muscles involved in deadlifts are the gluteal muscle group, but muscles in the lower back and hamstrings act as secondary muscles and ensure hip stability during deadlifts.
It happens that lower back muscles and hamstring overtake primary role from gluteal muscle group and because of that, people can end up with muscle soreness in the lower back after deadlifts.
Since secondary muscles shouldn’t work as much as they do, they become sore and painful. That’s why it’s so hard to achieve a perfect deadlift technique.
I have experienced that on my skin, but fortunately, it’s not so hard to fix that issue.
Poor deadlift techniques occur in the preparation and performing phase.
In the preparation phase happens the following issue:
- Loss of neutral spine.
- Hips are too high.
- The bar is too close/away from the body.
While in the performing phase, it happens that:
- Early hip extension.
- Too much back extension.
Overloading Issue with Deadlifts
Exploring the boundaries with deadlift exercises is pretty popular today, and it makes it easy to overload muscles and experience muscle soreness or pain afterward.
Rushing into one max repetition is not an easy journey, especially for beginners.
On the other hand, training at a submaximal level over a long period will constantly provoke back muscle soreness regardless of good technique or proper muscle activation. Advanced weightlifters make this mistake often.
Deadlifts are a great exercise because of various muscle activation, but sometimes it is hard to combine deadlifts with another exercise such as the squat.
It becomes easy to overtrain muscles in the lower back or hip and experience back muscle soreness.
When and Where Do Muscles Suffer After Deadlifts?
Recently I had an exhausting training session with deadlifts and I could feel my muscles getting sore after a day or two. It lasts for about a week or two, and the soreness was completely gone on all by itself.
As I figured out, the only unpleasant movement during that week was spine flexion or bending forward.
Reading more about back pain after deadlifts I’ve learned more about weak spots in the back. People usually experience muscle soreness in the following areas:
- Upper back
- Middle back
- Lower back
Upper Back Pain
It doesn’t happen so often, but any sudden neck movement during the deadlift could trigger a muscle soreness in the upper back. To avoid upper back muscle soreness, avoid neck extension or looking up during the exercise.
Tucking the chin in is a great way to prevent any neck-related injuries during the deadlifts.
Middle Back Pain
Muscle soreness in this area occurs mostly because of overloading the muscles around the spine. There are few layers of muscles nearby and they are commonly known as m. erector spinae. My advice is to be cautious when adding weights and always make room for warm-up before the training session.
Low Back Pain
A common place for muscle soreness after deadlifts is the lower back part. One reason for that is that the lower back is the most sensitive part of our spine, and deadlifts target mostly that part, especially with the hip hinge.
That means that proper technique plays a big role in avoiding unpleasant muscle soreness.
Does Muscle Pain After Deadlifts Damage the Spine?
Having back pain after deadlifts aren’t normal, especially if the pain is unbearable and causing a limited range of motion. Experiencing muscle soreness after 48 – 72 hours is known as muscle delayed pain that our body handles well.
But, any other symptoms such as radiating pain or loss of bladder control is a sign of more serious injury.
Even though muscle soreness is not desirable after a deadlift session, it won’t directly damage the spine. However, loss of function in the lower back can further increase the risk of spine-related injuries
How do I Stop Back Pain After Deadlifts?
Let’s first make a list of all things you can do to stop back pain after deadlifts:
- Improve deadlift technique.
- Build a proper training plan.
- Improve core stability.
- Soft tissue treatment.
- Exercise for back mobility and pain relief.
Improve deadlift technique
Improving the starting position is the first step. Start with positioning the bar around 2 inches from the body. Maintain a neutral spine position and squeeze the abdominal muscles.
When lifting, hold shoulders back and extend legs in the first phase. When the bar reaches knees, it’s time to move the hip forward and squeeze gluteal muscles.
By correcting the deadlift technique, the risk of back pain after deadlifts is much lower.
Build a proper training plan
- Spend a few weeks working on muscle strength and endurance by doing around 8 – 12 repetitions in every set.
- Never train constantly at a submaximal level.
- Make a training plan for a whole year.
- Don’t rely only on weight training.
- Try different variations of deadlifts.
Improve core stability
Core stability is often compromised because of our sedentary lifestyle and lack of movement. Doing any type of core stability exercise protects the spine from damage in the future.
Soft tissue treatment
Using a foam roller before a deadlift session is a powerful way to decrease the tension of the back muscles and prepare them for the upcoming training.
Another form of soft tissue treatment includes deep tissue massage or myofascial stretching. That feeling after a little painful and satisfying massage is priceless.
Finding an expert is not easy, but after I found one, I become a regular client.
Exercise for back mobility and pain relief
Finding the right exercise program for back mobility and pain relief is no easy task. Luckily for you, I have spent a few years studying the subject and exploring the web with all kinds of useful information. Here is the bottom line:
Focus on hip mobility:
- Start with lying on your back and rotate your hips from one side to another.
- Add passive piriformis stretch with external hip rotation.
- Straight leg raise for a hamstring stretch.
- Lay down on your back and stretch the adductor group with an extended leg.
As a bonus, you can add some exercises for upper body mobilization. It is crucial to focus on the extension and rotation of the upper spine.
Continue with Cat-Camel exercise. This is the basic and effective exercise for relieving the muscle tension in the muscles around the spine, known as m. erector spinae.
End the session with exercises for abdominal muscles such as plank or chop/lift variations.
More Helpful Information About Back Health
- Lower back pain after running – Learn the connection between lower back pain and running. I’ve covered common injuries from running and explained why they occurs. You can find a quick guide on how to deal with lower back pain from running also.
- Stretching exercises for paraspinal muscles – Take a look at a quick guide for 15 stretching exercises that relieve this muscle group. Paraspinal muscles are located around the spine and they follow the spine from the tailbone to the skull.
- Lower back spasm and loss of mobility – Read more about how you can react when dealing with painful spasms in the lower back and restricted mobility. Few exercises included.
- Back pain and squats – Learn how to avoid back pain when squatting, why you should squat regularly and what is the bests squatting variation if you have low back pain.
- Back pain and obesity – Being overweight puts more pressure on your lower back. Learn how to start training without causing damage to your lower back.
- Back pain from running on treadmill – How running on treadmill can cause pain and discomfort in the lower back. Learn how to prevent it and exercises that can help you relieve the pain.
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