Hurt lower back doing deadlifts page

[Hawaiigirl]

I was doing deadlifts two days ago and did something to hurt my lower back. The pain was worse yesterday but feels a little better today. I have been stretching a lot.

The thing is now I am afraid to do deadlifts because I don't want to hurt my back again. What other options can I do besides deadlifts?

[kitoi]

Sounds like you need to work on your form (rounding back perhaps). Once you're pain free reduce the weight and practice the movement. A good idea is to video and review your positioning. Don't know any replacement for deadlift, squats maybe....

[Hawaiigirl]

Do I even need deadlifts? If I stick to the five essential movements of pushup, pull-up, squat, OHP, and plank, is that enough to have my full body toned?

[kitoi]

Doing the 5 basic you could do without the DL. Squats will work your glutes and hamstrings but not like the DL

[BenC]

Probably a good idea to see a doctor and find out what the injury was. If it was a muscle pull, or even partial tear, no big deal. You'll be able to ease back into deadlifts and come back stronger than ever. If it's a vertebrae or disc injury though, that will take a lot more patience and lot more care recovering. Don't want to assume the injury is the former when it's actually the latter. This is coming from a guy who used to deadlift 550 and do rack lockouts with 650, and now has to be careful picking up a dropped pencil.

[Dave RN]

Get the book "The 7 Day Backpain Cure". I used the SI joint streches andafter three days I've improved dramatically. I had gone for months with pain and was just about to back to the doc again after already seeing 3.

[bcbcbc2]

What BenC said if the injury isn't very obviously minor.

kettlebell swings work the same muscles and many people think they're kind of fun.
kb snatches and cleans could be used for variation.
You can use a dumbbell, a towel through a weight plate or some other improvised weight if kb's aren't available

Obviously they won't build the strength that heavy deads will but at least they add direct and dynamic work to the isometric work of the planks and the secondary work from the squats
They can also add in some conditioning.

[Al_Kavadlo]

Sounds like you need to work on your form (rounding back perhaps). Once you're pain free reduce the weight and practice the movement. A good idea is to video and review your positioning. Don't know any replacement for deadlift, squats maybe....

+1

kettlebell swings work the same muscles and many people think they're kind of fun.

If she hurt her back doing deadlifts, swings are probably a bad idea.

Hawaiigirl - I did a deadlift tutorial a little while ago that might be helpful. (Click the link!)

[bcbcbc2]

+1



If she hurt her back doing deadlifts, swings are probably a bad idea.

Hawaiigirl - I did a deadlift tutorial a little while ago that might be helpful. (Click the link!)

In the short run, probably.
I was throwing it out as one option for a dead-less routine in the long term.

[spharx]

As my gym instructor said, deadlifts is an advanced way of working out and may not be for everyone. It's important that you have the basic strength in place before you start doing the heavy lifting, and your body has to be completely warm before your first set.
I usually run myself warm, stretch for a little bit and do some squats first (without weights) and then perform at least one other thing on my work out routine before I start with the deadlifts.

It's also helpful to get an instructor to overlook that you are using the right technique. I realized I had been doing it wrong for weeks until I finally asked someone to give me a hand, and that can lead to a lot of injuries, both short- and long-term.

If you've never had back problems before, you should be fine as long as you change your form, but if this is something you have been struggeling with before, then maybe you should find some alternative way of working out.