Pay attention to your lower back: Your complete guide to the deadlift

When it comes to exercising at the gym, getting your technique right is crucial. In this series, physiotherapist Luke Pickett takes us step-by-step through the big three movements: the squat, the deadlift and the bench press.

Trending both online and in the gym, deadlifts are an exercise with ties to the ancient Roman times, rumoured to have gained their name when soldiers would pick up their fallen comrades after battle – literally lifting the dead. Today, YouTube is saturated with deadlift videos from the pre-pubescent teenager to the octogenarian grandmother.

But you should think twice if you believe you are necessarily improving your health by doing deadlifts in the gym. As a physiotherapist with 20 years of clinical experience, I have spent more time explaining to patients why not to do deadlifts rather than teaching the correct technique.

Physiotherapist Luke Pickett performing a deadlift.Credit:Justin McManus

The problem is that a deadlift can be the most dangerous exercise commonly performed in the gym. If I said to you, I am going to give you the most complex whole body movement to control, with one of the heaviest weights you will lift in the gym today, in the most ergonomically and physically challenged position for your body – what would you say?

When explaining this to patients, the simplest example I give is from the AFL environment. I remember walking through the gym after a main training session and noticed a player’s back was curving. “Keep your spine neutral,” I said as I passed. He stopped his set and asked me to critique his technique. Now this was a club best and fairest, previous captain and All-Australian player that has performed tens of thousands of deadlifts to this point in his career – the vast majority of them performed with a coach’s supervision and surrounded by mirrors. If he could not perform a deadlift correctly in this environment, the rest of us need to pay attention.

An overview

Deadlifts became “on trend” in the last decade or so because they are, ironically, the best exercise to strengthen your posterior chain: lower back, glutes, hamstrings, calf muscles. Before then, when you frequented the gym, the only people performing deadlifts were actual weightlifters (the sportspeople), often with a coach providing instruction or motivation and always with a thick leather weightlifting belt, which provides support for core muscles and the spine.

The number of lumbar (lower back) spine injuries I have seen due to deadlifting by regular gym-goers has been huge. With the deadlift, the lumbar spine must be kept neutral. This means no curving, forwards or backwards, which is extremely difficult to do without weight, let alone while lifting a heavy barbell.

The biggest issue with flexing the spine (forwards) is that it increases the forces and stress on the lumbar discs and the issue with extending the spine (backwards) is that it puts excessive forces through the spinal joints. So, you want every rep you do to be perfect.

My preference is to replace the deadlift with squats and glute bridges or hip thrusts, which when combined will also strengthen components of the posterior chain. The squat is quadriceps-focused and the glute bridges or hip thrusts load the glutes and hamstrings. This combination of two exercises is much safer and will provide the same outcome.

A neutral spine is key, Luke Pickett says.Credit:Justin McManus

Technique

If you still choose to deadlift, please heed the following:

Remember – the lumbar spine is where the greater proportion of injuries are experienced (distantly followed by the shoulder and knee).

Ensure that you can see your lower spine by tucking your T-shirt or singlet in at the back and positioning yourself side-on to a mirror. Ideally have a qualified professional overseeing your lumbar control.

The lift is a hip-hinging movement – meaning that your centre of movement is at the hip joints. So the spine should stay neutral and held in this straight position from the start of the movement to the end. This is the injurious component of a deadlift – when the lumbar spine moves.

Your feet should be shoulder-width apart. This then dictates your hand position, which will be on the bar just wide of your shins, so your knees can stay directly over the top of your feet.

Keep your neck neutral. That means your eye line will start by looking at a point on the floor about a metre in front, and as you lift it will follow a line to finish at eye level directly ahead.

Drive from the hips to lift the bar straight up past the shins and stand tall.

Be careful not to bend your lumbar spine to start the movement and ensure that your hips stay high (higher than your knees) throughout. Also keep your spine neutral and avoid arching backwards at the end of the movement.

Be mindful where you feel the burn – you should feel it in your glutes, hamstrings and quadricep muscles. Importantly, not in your hip or knee joints. And, above all, not in your central lower back.

Ensure that your sets and reps represent your gym objectives – most people are striving for strength so three sets of 8-10 repetitions are recommended with at least one rest day between sessions.

Watch the amount of weight you stack onto your barbell. You don’t need huge amounts for the movement to be effective. Lifting a lighter weight helps you to adhere to the wise gym mantra that “form is king”. Good technique means more continuity and less injury. If you continue to deadlift with heavier weights, consider wearing a weight belt.

If you have decreased ankle range of movement then you might want to find a short platform to stand on (such as 20-kilogram barbell weights) so that your feet are completely grounded at the start of the movement.

Modified deadlifts can be safer and easier to perform. Sumo deadlifts carry the same risks as a regular deadlift, however the Romanian deadlift is a much safer option because the weights don’t go all the way down to the floor, meaning the range of movement is smaller and easier to control while still targeting the desired muscle group.

Luke Pickett is a physiotherapist who has worked as a head physio for AFL, AIS and Australian sporting teams. He is director of Melbourne Physio Clinic.

Also check out his complete guide to the squat and the bench press.

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