If there’s only one exercise you could do to cure low back pain, I have it.
There is one exercise for curing low back pain that stands out way beyond the rest.
I had recommended it for my clients during my days as a personal trainer at a health club — and got very positive feedback from them.
It’s a powerhouse of an exercise, superior to other typical exercises that are prescribed for treating low back pain. It is the deadlift.
Maybe you’ve never heard of the deadlift. And if you have, you may still not know what this is, or may have a misguided perception of this exercise. But dang, it cured my low back discomfort.
I’ve been lifting weights since my teen years, but never did deadlifts. I hated them.
But there came a point in my life where I realized that my low back would be aching if I got up from a chair after sitting for awhile. Where the devil was this coming from?
Too much time at the computer? Heaven forbid if the discomfort was because I wasn’t 19 anymore, or perhaps I had inherited a predisposition for this annoying problem from my father.
I had already been doing intense back training routines at the gym, but these primarily targeted the middle and upper back muscles.
I did some low region work, however, and decided to up the ante, adding back extensions and more “camel backs” to my regimen.
But that didn’t make a difference. I still experienced the daily discomfort. So I asked myself, “What’s one exercise for the low back that I haven’t been doing? Deadlifts!”
Setting up to do a deadlift. Freepik.com
Completed deadlift.
I decided to give this compound move a try, no matter how much I hated it, and to stick it out for a fair length of time.
I did deadlifts three times a week: 1) With a barbell, 2) With dumbbells, and 3) Holding weight plates.
Within eight weeks, the pain in my low back, or achiness, what-have-you, was gone. Gone. Entirely gone. Vanished.
This was not something that would have disappeared on its own, because I had had it for quite some time, and had tried other workout routines to combat it, with absolutely no improvement.
And then suddenly, once I begin doing the deadlifts, there is steady improvement, so the logical conclusion is that this compound exercise cured my low back discomfort.
Medical Disclaimer
I never saw a doctor for my problem, and I don’t recommend that you start a deadlift program unless a physician clears you of having any spinal issue that would contraindicate this type of exercise.
In my case, I’d had no injury, no car accident, no fall, no tingling or numbness, no pain radiating to my butt or leg.
I apparently had a soft-tissue deconditioning and stiffness that occurred over time (despite my years of athletics and weightlifting), and the deadlifts restored everything.
I’ve continued to do deadlifts (along with other major core exercises), and my low back is now bullet-proof.
Lorra Garrick is a former personal trainer certified through the American Council on Exercise. At Bally Total Fitness she trained women and men of all ages for fat loss, muscle building, fitness and improved health.
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