Are Deadlifts Bad For Your Back?? The Truth

“Deadlifts are bad for your back.” 

“Bench press is bad for your shoulders.” 

“If you’ve injured yourself lifting weights, you should never lift weights again.”

These are all things we’ve heard from doctors. By the end of this blog post, I’m going to convince you that they are also all completely false. 

From personal experience — I’ve had 5 knee surgeries from rugby injuries. After my most severe injury, I woke up to the surgeon telling me that I would never play rugby again. That I would never be able to squat heavy again.

Since then, I’ve played Premier level rugby in Auckland, New Zealand’s most physical competition. I’ve squatted well over 150kg, and I’ve equaled my pre-surgery fitness tests.

So yeah — surgeons and doctors don’t always get it right.

The Stats - What Does The Science Say?

One way we can measure how dangerous a sport is, is through “injuries per 1000 hours of exposure.” That just means: if you do a certain sport for 1000 hours, how many injuries do people get on average?

Here’s a few:

• Soccer causes about 15 injuries per 1000 hours (1)

• Running on a treadmill causes 6 to 7 injuries per 1000 hours (2)

  
  

Now, powerlifting is the sport of lifting as heavy as possible in 3 lifts: deadlifts, squats, and bench press.

If deadlifts, bench press and squats were as dangerous as people say, we would expect to see massive injury numbers, right? 

Wrong.

• Deadlifts have an injury rate of only 2.7 per 1000 hours (according to study 2)

  
  

This is less than half the injury rate of treadmill running! This means if you spend 1000 hours running on a treadmill, and 1000 hours powerlifting, you’re more than twice as likely to get injured on the treadmill. But you don’t hear many people scared of using the treadmill! 

That’s because unlike walking and running, heavy lifting requires good technique. Which brings me to my next point:

Technique Matters

When your shoulders are set correctly, and load is managed appropriately, bench press is not bad for your shoulders. When you brace properly, engage your lats, and your setup allows decent leg drive, deadlifts are not bad for your back.

In fact, when done correctly, they’ll do the exact opposite.

• Deadlifts will strengthen your back and prep you for lifting heavy in daily life.

• Bench press will build your shoulders and help reduce injury long-term.

Final Thoughts - Are Deadlifts Bad For you Back?

You Have 2 Options:

Injuries happen. True. But the only way to completely avoid injury is to sit in bed all day.

Do that, and in a few years you’ll be worse off anyway.

When you’re in the gym, everything is controlled. The floor is level. The weights are evenly distributed. The plates are calibrated to a certain weight. It is literally the perfect conditions to practice lifting heavy things. 

In life, you will eventually be put in a position where you’ll have to lift something heavy. You might have to help a friend move house, or even just rearranging the furniture in the lounge. 

You have 2 options. 

Option A) You practice lifting heavy things in a controlled environment, like the gym. You drill good technique, learn how to brace your core, and learn how to use your legs properly. Then when time comes to shift the couch, it’s a breeze. 

Option B) You avoid deadlifts, strength training and lifting heavy things at the gym. When time come to move the couch, your nervous. You try to lift with your legs… But you don’t know good technique. You pop your back out. 

Which option will you choose?

(1) DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scispo.2020.08.003

(2) DOI:10.1590/S1980-6574202000030038

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