So I’m “going to go there”, but I’m genuinely interested in discussion here:
I’m sure people here have heard the infamous clip of Robert Oberst talking about the risk/reward of the deadlift. Obviously anyone that powerlifts is on board with deadlifting, as are most people who strength train. That said, I don’t think Oberst was entirely wrong. Deadlifting – at least strength-oriented deadlifting (high intensity and low rep range) – is not that common in most sport-specific S&C programs. I worked predominantly with hockey players back in the day (about 6 years ago) and the going programming for hockey, football, MMA, and sports not requiring deadlifting simply didn’t have it programmed. Oberst also mentions talking to numerous other strongmen who essentially agreed that deadlifting is somewhat “risky” in comparison to other lifts.
The bilateral deficit is one reason many coaches opted for RFESS and one leg SLDL’s instead, and in place of deadlifting was trap-bar deadlifting as it’s relatively easy to execute without much technique coaching, can be easily loaded and didn’t seem to correlate commonly with injury/pain/training disruption/whatever we want the operational definition to be. Similarly, Mike Boyle wrote an article about eliminating backsquats from his hockey player programming and seeing back pain complaints substantially decreasing with no detriment to their sport (in this case, mainly hockey). I don’t think I ever saw an athlete with an incidence of low back pain in the gym when we worked with hockey players, and the players who did have a history of low back pain only had it exacerbated by their sport, not by lifting. While we didn’t have them doing pure strength-oriented lifting all off season, many were easily able to load up 185+ per leg for reps on both RFESS and single leg SLDL without issue, the stronger athletes pulling 225. There were quite a few other coaches who followed suit. I realize this isn’t a formalized study but I’m also not inclined to a-priori throw out private data collection simply because it’s not formalized.
Of course that’s mostly hearsay/observation, and so is this, but that’s most of what I have to go on. Anecdotally, looking through video comments on Alan Thrall’s video on back tweaks, looking at rehab advice threads on this forum and others, etc, there is a substantial number of lifters who talk about having hurt their back deadlifting (as well as backsquatting). Many people talk about their back pain improving or going away with SS programs or backsquatting/deadlifting in general, but few of those people seem to be those whose LBP’s onset was during deadlifting or backsquatting, or at least didn’t return until after a substantial hiatus. I’m aware of the incidence rate of injury in powerlifting (2-4 per 1000), and that the highest number seems to be shoulder injuries, but low back injuries are still very high on the list, as they are for strongman, weightlifting and other bilateral and dynamic strength sports. While 2-4 per 1000 doesn’t sound that bad, the incidence doesn’t account for severity or longevity of symptoms, and I can personally attest that low-back pain (both specific and non-specific) is a great deal more debilitating than any of the other injuries I’ve had.
Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not claiming they are “dangerous” or anything similar, and there are an awful lot of questions the above assertions raise assuming they’re true. I’m also familiar with BBM’s writings on LBP as well as the associated literature on the topic. But it’s also hard to ignore the observation that heavy bilateral lifts – in this case, deadlifting specifically – seems to put greater stress on weaker structures than do unilateral lifts.
Des anyone here think there is any case to be made for alternative exercise selection in specific circumstance, i.e. no consistent coaching, history of LBP, etc? If someone is interested in being strong but not at the expense of potential longevity, is it “worth it” if there’s no specific desire to deadlift or compete?
If yes (or no for that matter), what seems to be the common issue with heavy bilateral lifting? Is it the technicality of the lift? The potential for fatigue with “high system load”? The fact that most deadlifters are testing maxes and pushing PRs? Does it just come down to genetic susceptibility, much like non-specific LBP? Is there any literature on this specifically?
I know the primary predictor of injury is load management, but at least anecdotally, it seems to be difficult for many people to correctly gauge the relative load-bearing capabilities of their backs compared to their legs in these lifts. I know that if I push an RFESS, the main limitation will be in my legs and it’s very easy to gauge RPE. In the case of my personal back injuries/tweaks, both were during a from-the-floor deadlift pattern and neither were at max effort. It may be easy to contest here that hey, it just happens (and given the prevalence of LBP in people around me it’s obviously true), but I’m also not convinced that the two times I’ve tweaked my back more seriously (meaning significant time off training) since my initial army injury were both during from-the-floor deadlift patterns.
Would love to be wrong here by the way. I would love to rest assured that future LB tweaks and injuries are just as likely as any other and that marching on toward a deadlift goal a few years down the line is as safe as opting for the single leg variation, but I’m admittedly hesitant and not really convinced I’m “built for it” at this point.
