Day: June 13, 2025

Are deadlifts good to do if you have a sore back?

Deadlifts are a fantastic exercise, a functional compound exercise that strengthens the lower back, hips, hamstrings and deep inner trunk muscles.

Deadlifts target the very muscles that weaken in back pain sufferers over a period of time.

But do we recommend them if you have a sore back?

The answer is NO – we do not.

The thought of bending over with a sore back, let alone bending over to pick up the equivalent of your own body weight is the last thing on earth people suffering from back pain feel like doing.

The reason you have your back pain, is because the muscles integral to supporting your body weight and your back are letting you down. They are extremely weak leaving you to feel very vulnerable as soon as you lean forward of your midline.

Most back pain sufferers when we ask them to squat down. Will squat down with their knees forward, their backs dead straight in a fixed vertical position whilst balancing on their toes.

Many so called strength and conditioning experts recommend deadlifts for back pain sufferers because they target the exact areas that are weak in the body resulting in back pain.

The problem with this approach is that the vast majority of back pain sufferers do not have the balance and stability to bend forward and correctly position themselves to carry out a deadlift.

Similar to the photo shown above of the back pain sufferer, the deadlift start and end position will have their body weight forward of their midline which will place all the load back onto the lower back. Not only is this poor technique, it will create pain for most (not all) back pain sufferers.

Of the back pain sufferers who can carry out a deadlift in this fashion without creating back pain, it defeats the purpose of doing a dead lifts as due to the poor technique the muscles that a deadlift should target are not engaging due to the distribution of weight all being forward of the midline.

So in short, deadlifts are a brilliant exercise if carried out correctly.

In all my time seeing chronic back pain sufferers, I have seen only a small handful of people who could carry out a deadlift with correct technique at the time they presented with pain.

The very muscles that are weak and causing back pain are the very muscles that are integral to supporting you through a perfect deadlift.

My advice is to focus on strengthening these muscles, improve your pelvic stability and balance. Then as your back pain symptoms settle, and you start to feel confident, add deadlifts to your regime. Start with small weights and focus on balance and correct technique. As your balance and technique improve, increase the resistance building up to your body weight over a period of time.

Remember – if you are doing a deadlift and it hurts your back – You are doing it wrong.

A correct deadlift will provide you with relief and a feeling of strength through your back and deep into your trunk.

With perfect technique and respect for this quality exercise – when the timing is right the deadlift will become your best friend. It will leave you feeling strong, and completely avoiding back pain as long as you do them.

Please view our video for further clarity.

How does emotional stress impact my back pain?

Emotional stress plays a very clear, however very complicated role in back pain, especially lower back pain.

For the purpose of this brief article we will try to provide a simple outline of how emotions (most commonly associated with the brain) can affect your body. I make note of one of my favourite books on the mind/ body connection and the role emotions can play on the fascia (connective tissue of the body).  

Fascia or commonly referred to as connective tissue is integral to providing support and stability to our posture.

When we are physically challenged (fight or flight) our posture unconsciously braces to protect from physical danger. Our shoulders round forward to protect our chest and the vital organs, our head lowers in a braced position in behind our shoulder, our hips internally rotate to protect our reproductive organs, as we tense through our stomachs to prevent damage to the organs within our peritoneal cavity.

Whilst the above protective posture is really clear to see when we are physically challenged, how about how we look when we are emotionally challenged?

Let’s look at the extreme…. The posture of a broken man or women.

Head drops down, eyes pointing to the pavement. Shoulders drop down in state of despair, knees buckle with no spring in the step, with the hips rotated inwards, all visual signs of someone who is just in an emotional slump.

Whilst the above two examples are extremes of how the body protects and braces. It does give a very clear example of how your body can be affected by the state of your mind.

The human body is not designed to handle constant intermittent emotional stress. One of the side effects of emotional stress is physical tension that builds up and stays tight. If you suffer from emotional stress, having tension in these areas will be very familiar to you.

1. Neck and shoulder tension – (shoulder round forward to protect, causing the neck and shoulder muscles and facia to restrict)
2. Chest tension and difficulty breathing deeply – chest restricted from rounded shoulders, diagram tension that affects lungs filling with air.
3. Stomach tension – shoulder and hips rounded forward causes the deep muscles of the trunk to shorten and contract.
4. Lower back – due to the rounding forward of the hips, shoulders and the tension present deep in the stomach, diaphragm the fascia of lower back is under constant tension.   

Some people have constant back pain due to their emotional state. Other people’s back pain only flares up when their emotional state boils over.

In short, whilst we don’t always noticeably crawl up into a ball when we have emotional stress we are struggling to cope with, we do have very noticeable tension present that causes us pain, back pain being one such area.

In essence your body is going into a protective mode whether you are aware of it or not, to brace and protect you from the emotional challenges you are faced with.

There are effective techniques to manage our emotional stress; a few that I recommend are:

• Sedeno method
• Demartini method
• The power of now.

On a more physical level you can help prevent tension building to the point where you are in days of pain, by strengthening your postural muscles.

If you feel strongly that your back pain is purely brought on by your emotional state and you want to understand the body/ mind connection to place together all the dots, I strongly recommend you read the book “Molecules of Emotions” by Candice Pert.

I will forewarn you.. If this subject is of interest to you, then you will not be able to put this powerful, thought provoking book down.

Here is a brief description of the book:

Why do we feel the way we feel? How do our thoughts and emotions affect our health? Are our bodies and minds distinct from each other or do they function together as part of an interconnected system? …

Candice Pert is the absolute authority on the mind/ body connection. A hard core scientist, whose life journey dove her deep into both the esoteric and science worlds.  With the rare ability to quantify eastern medicine views with hard western science, some of her discoveries were simply remarkable.

Stand up desk vs seated – Back Pain

The latest trend in stand up desks in preference to long hours seated at a desk has it merits.

Being the solution to ending back pain for office bound workers is definitely not one of them.

There are a lot of health benefits in standing for prolonged period as opposed to sitting:

• Increased circulation (blood vessels are less restricted when standing)
• Increased respiration (airways and lungs are more open when standing)  
• Increased lymphatic circulation  
• Digestion more functional than when seated for long periods.
• Postural muscles working to support your standing position
• Extra calories expired due to major muscles groups supporting your standing position.
• The ability to adjust and distribute weight across both sides of the body.

Regardless of whether you suffer from back pain or otherwise, we strongly recommend that you vary your position throughout the day. Periods of time seated, standing and moving around the office.

If you suffer from back pain and looking to a stand up desk as the solution, unfortunately you will be met with the following concerns.

• The cause of your back pain is postural weakness
• Standing for long periods asks more of your already weakened postural muscles than sitting does.  
• The muscles that compensate and carry extra load for your weak posture will become further fatigued from long periods standing. In turn causing you more pain.

Therefore in the fight against back pain, there is no right or wrong answer as to whether you are best to sit or stand for long periods any position maintained for long periods of time with a sore back, with weakened postural muscles is going to result in a painful symptomatic response.

The most likely reason for your back pain and the postural weaknesses that created it was from being fixed in the same position for long periods on end. The muscles that should support you when you stand are weak and they need to be addressed in your lasting solution to back pain.

You need to carry out exercises to address your postural imbalances. The major muscles that support your weight when you sit, stand and walk are muscles posterior of your midline. The erector spinae, gluteus maximus, hamstrings and adductor muscles should be your focus.

Restore strength, symmetry and balance to your body and continue a regime to maintain it and you will find that regardless of whether you sit or stand for long periods, your back will be as strong as on ox.   

At this point, you will find great benefit incorporating intermittent periods of time at your standing desk.

For more information and answers to chronic back pain, please refer to articles on our site.

Are squats good to do if you have a sore back?

Squats are a brilliant exercise that target all the major muscles groups of the body.

However there is a lot of conjecture of whether someone suffering from lower back pain should make squats a part of their training regime.

Some practitioners and fitness experts advise to avoid squats if you are suffering from a sore back, whilst others recommend to do squats as a remedy to fix your sore back.

There are many different types of back pain, both different causes and different sources of the symptoms/ pain that a back sufferer experiences.

In this articles we will take a closer look at the fors and against doing squats, then draw relevance to the cause and symptoms of back pain and how varying conditions respond better or worse after doing squats.

The argument for doing squats to fix your sore back stems from the belief that all back pain is created due to muscular imbalances in the body. Given squats are the most dynamic functional compound exercise, that targets all your major postural muscles, carrying them out is believed to target the underlying cause of your back pain.

The argument against doings squats stems from the fact that your body is too weak to handle a dynamic functional compound exercise, therefore the excess load will be placed on your back potentially creating further damage and pain.

So one thing that the two different arguments agree on is that the cause of the back pain complaint stems from muscular weakness.

From our perspective, the underlying postural weakness can result in different symptoms of lower back pain. Due to the lack of support, the back is placed under excess load, which leads to restriction and pain in the structures of the lower back; the muscles, joints, ligaments.

What adds to the confusion is that some back pain sufferers get fantastic relief from doing squats, whilst others are left with a painful ache or spasm that can last for days. Further to this, many back sufferers can feel great most of the time doing squats, however every now and then they get a severe flare up after carrying out squats for no explained reason.   

So if you are doing squats, and they free your back up making you feel better and stronger. Our advice is to keep doing them. This typically suggests that you have postural weaknesses present that cause you back pain, however not to the extent that you can not carry out a functional compound exercise. Get a trained therapist or instructor to take an eye over your technique, gradually build strength over time and strengthen your postural imbalances.

If you are doing squats and every now and then you flare up for no known reason, then you are most likely not posturally strong enough to consistently carry out squats. Back flare ups can occur due to you being fatigued at the time of doing squats, meaning on top of the already weakened postural muscles, you have further lack of support due to the fatigue.

If you have been doing squats for a while and you are still getting occasional flare ups, this would suggest that your technique needs altering as you are not successfully targeting the weakened postural muscles.

Our advice is to seek professional advice on what exercises you can do to assist your squatting technique, so you can start to overcome the underlying postural weakness.

If you cannot squat at all without increased pain, then your postural weakness is to the point where you cannot support the weight of your body. All the load is placed upon the lower back and its structures. If you fall into this category your path to leading a healthy pain free lifestyle is much more difficult, definitely not impossible, just more difficult than those who are still strong enough to build strength with functional compound exercises such as squats.

For chronic back sufferers who cannot squat, please click on one of the relevant articles that will inform you on what needs to be done to eradicate your back pain and strengthen your body so it does not return.