[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Your session is going as planned, your client is moving well, they\u2019re happy and then you say The Thing: \u201cOK, let\u2019s set you up for some deadlifts.\u201d Then the reaction… the hand to the lower back, the slight step away, the look of worry and the excuses: \u201cI have a bad back, I can\u2019t do deadlifts …\u201d etc.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s amazing how many clients react badly when faced with the dreaded deadlift. Especially as, done properly, there\u2019s really nothing to dread. Commonly, the problem will be that the client has tried to deadlift without proper supervision or cueing, or done them competitively with a friend and had an adverse reaction. Just one experience like this can be enough to convince someone they can\u2019t \u2013 and shouldn\u2019t \u2013 deadlift again.<\/p>\n
As a physio, what if I was to tell them that deadlifts are actually good for you and can even help your back pain? Stay with me on this.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s take it as read that it\u2019s essential a client\u2019s goals, training and injury history and mental attitudes\/approach to exercise are taken into consideration before any exercise \u2013 deadlifts included \u2013 is prescribed. But, typically, any exercise can be safe, providing the client has first been built up to achieve the basic standard, educated around the technique and guided slowly through it.<\/p>\n
With this as the foundation, I\u2019m a firm believer that deadlifts can help back pain from multiple angles. Typically, those suffering from back pain, especially sedentary workers, will have poor active control and strength of the glutes, weak hamstrings and poor lumbo\/ pelvic \/hip dissociation. The deadlift movement provides benefits to each of these.<\/p>\n
Learning how to pivot purely from the hip joint will decrease the small rotator muscle stiffness and provide strength into the posterior chain. This new range should minimise their injury window and the strength should naturally stabilise them in at-risk positions.<\/p>\n
Stiffness and aches in the lower back after deadlifts are common complaints. Society overtime has hugely increased the stigma surrounding lower back pain which means people\u2019s attitudes towards it differ from other forms of pain – say an ankle sprain. If stiffness and aching lasts no more than 48hrs and doesn\u2019t have a significant impact on daily activities, it is most likely DOMS, which is exactly what we are looking for. Strengthening the multifidus, erector spinae and thoracolumbar fascia will help prevent further episodes of back pain.<\/p>\n
If we delve into the psychological approach to exercise, often you\u2019ll hear clients make negative statements about their back: their back is weak, it always will be and nothing will help. The more we get to grips with the causes of these limiting beliefs, the more easily we can fix the client\u2019s misconception \u2013 and, with it, their back.<\/p>\n
Through education, understanding and careful conversation, we can help clients buy into the idea that strengthening it with a correct approach is OK. Teaching them to see their backs as robust, strong and mobile structures will only have positive outcomes, both in terms of future injury risk and the strength gains they\u2019re looking for.<\/p>\n
The world of exercise is surrounded by misinformation and limiting beliefs and, as professionals, we need to spend more time challenging both. There are few (if any) inherently good or bad exercises. Everything is relative \u2013 to the client\u2019s situation and goals, the expertise of the therapist\/trainer and the parameters determining exercise prescription.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”40px”][vc_column_text]This article reproduced by kind permission of Fitpro magazine<\/em>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" You may have clients who dread the deadlift but whose backs would benefit from performing this exercise. Physiotherapist Liam Rodgers explains<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":21988,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,97],"tags":[158,65,157],"class_list":["post-21986","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","category-fitness","tag-deadlift","tag-fitness","tag-strength-training"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n