THE ACUTE EFFECTS OF DEADLIFTING ON PARTICIPANTS WITH LOW BACK PAIN

BACKGROUND: Low back pain (LBP) is a leading cause of musculoskeletal disability globally. Compared to other musculoskeletal disorders, LBP is amongst those with the largest prevalence and poses the largest burden on the world’s population. While well-established aerobic exercise protocols have been established for improving LBP, there is still uncertainty when compared to dynamic loading exercises such as the barbell deadlift. The barbell deadlift has potential as a therapeutic intervention for those with LBP in its activation of trunk extensors and to improve stability through dynamic loading. Aims: We sought to determine the effects of an acute deadlifting session on LBP when compared to aerobic exercise. We hypothesized that deadlifting would have at least an equivalent, if not superior improvement for LBP. METHODS: Fifteen college-aged adults (5 males: age = 22 ± 2 years, mass = 98.2 ± 37.1 kg, height = 177.2 ± 7.6 cm, 10 females: age = 23 ± 4 years, mass = 70.5 ± 11.9 kg, height = 164.5 ± 7.6 cm) with chronic LBP visited the laboratory three times, the first of which was for familiarization. On visits 2 and 3, participants completed 3 sets of the barbell deadlift with their 5-repetition maximum and 30 minutes of cycling (control condition) in random order. Before and immediately following each intervention, pressure pain thresholds (PPT) of the paravertebral, quadratus lumborum, and piriformis muscles were obtained via pressure algometry. RESULTS: Significant time × intervention interactions were observed for PPT at the paravertebrals (F = 7.381, p = 0.018, ηp2 = 0.362) and quadratus lumborum (F = 5.401, p = 0.037, ηp2 = 0.294), but not the piriformis (F = 0.284, p = 0.603, ηp2 = 0.021). The mean percent change in PPT following deadlifts across the paravertebrals, quadratus lumborum, and piriformis were -11.2%, -12.2%, and -9.4%, respectively. Mean percent change in PPT following cycling across the paravertebrals, quadratus lumborum, and piriformis were 4.1%, 2.9%, and -8.8%, respectively. CONCLUSION: Participating in a single deadlift session using 5RM loads resulted in acute, muscle-specific improvements in PPT, while participating in aerobic cycling led to a decrease in PPT. Our findings highlight the importance of implementing various dosing strategies which may be more practical for painful populations.