Being 40+ I’d always been surprised I’d never had the back pain I was told I should have at this age. Feeling that I was just luck up to this point I saw posts like yours:
Preventative measures have been my go-to, I’m 40+ and still deadlift and squat weekly,
I know form is important and bad for can hurt you, so I got a personal trainer on staff at my gym. I’d said I wanted to learn deadlift and squats properly using free weights (and Smith machine). I was able to do them, and was told my form was correct. It wasn’t comfortable, but strenuous workouts rarely are. After 3 week of it… my back hurts now. I’ve stopped those workouts about another 3 week ago and my back is hurting less.
So in conclusion, I never had back pain until I started doing what I thought I needed to to avoid back pain.
Your situation is unfortunate, and I realize in a lot of ways I’m spoiled, I grew up in a fitness family and started learning lifts when I was a teenager so I am a bit privileged in that way.
Deadlifts are a tricky one, maybe work on general accessory back work when you are able again, get your stabilizers to a place of confidence, and approach deadlift again when you feel ready.
Alternatively, you can pass on deadlift and learn ‘good mornings’ or hyperextensions which both touch on similar muscle groups.
When it comes to fitness, there are so many alternative lifts for different physiology. Me for example, I have to take caution with barbell overhead press because for whatever reason my shoulders sometimes pinch a nerve in my neck, so I do dumbbell instead. It takes time to learn your body.
Use this website to find alternative workouts for the muscle group in question, it’s one if the best.
Are you sure it was skeletal pain and not muscular? I decided on a whim to go for a PR on deadlift after slacking off from the gym for ~2 weeks. It aged my back by 30 years for a week before the stiffness went away.
I’m personally a big fan of Barbell Medicine and the biopsychosocial model they’re pushing. A point Dr. Feigenbaum had made is that if you’re capable of performing the barbell movements without load, there isn’t really any reason for why the movement should cause harm. If it causes pain, you’re loading up too much weight before your body has adapted to it.
Being 40+ I’d always been surprised I’d never had the back pain I was told I should have at this age. Feeling that I was just luck up to this point I saw posts like yours:
I know form is important and bad for can hurt you, so I got a personal trainer on staff at my gym. I’d said I wanted to learn deadlift and squats properly using free weights (and Smith machine). I was able to do them, and was told my form was correct. It wasn’t comfortable, but strenuous workouts rarely are. After 3 week of it… my back hurts now. I’ve stopped those workouts about another 3 week ago and my back is hurting less.
So in conclusion, I never had back pain until I started doing what I thought I needed to to avoid back pain.
Your situation is unfortunate, and I realize in a lot of ways I’m spoiled, I grew up in a fitness family and started learning lifts when I was a teenager so I am a bit privileged in that way.
Deadlifts are a tricky one, maybe work on general accessory back work when you are able again, get your stabilizers to a place of confidence, and approach deadlift again when you feel ready.
Alternatively, you can pass on deadlift and learn ‘good mornings’ or hyperextensions which both touch on similar muscle groups.
When it comes to fitness, there are so many alternative lifts for different physiology. Me for example, I have to take caution with barbell overhead press because for whatever reason my shoulders sometimes pinch a nerve in my neck, so I do dumbbell instead. It takes time to learn your body.
Use this website to find alternative workouts for the muscle group in question, it’s one if the best.
https://exrx.net/
Back exercises listed by muscle group
Are you sure it was skeletal pain and not muscular? I decided on a whim to go for a PR on deadlift after slacking off from the gym for ~2 weeks. It aged my back by 30 years for a week before the stiffness went away.
I’m personally a big fan of Barbell Medicine and the biopsychosocial model they’re pushing. A point Dr. Feigenbaum had made is that if you’re capable of performing the barbell movements without load, there isn’t really any reason for why the movement should cause harm. If it causes pain, you’re loading up too much weight before your body has adapted to it.