A patient walks into your practice with lower back pain.
All scans and tests are clear.
The doc has diagnosed it as "mechanical".
Should the deadlift exercise be part of your prescriptions?
According to a 2021 review by Samuel and colleagues, three things indicate how likely a patient is to benefit from deadlifting for lower back pain.
1) Can they hold more than 60 seconds on the Biering-Sorensen test?
2) On a 10cm long visual analogue scale, do they rate their pain as less than 6?
3) Do they score reasonably low on the Roland-Morris Disability Questions? (useful online version here)
If you can answer yes to all three questions, then there's a good chance that it should be included in your rehab plan.
References
Roland MO, Morris RW. A study of the natural history of back pain. Part 1: Development of a reliable and sensitive measure of disability in low back pain. Spine 1983; 8: 141-144.
Ortho Toolkit: Dr. Martin Roland is Emeritus Professor of Health Services Research at the University of Cambridge.
Fischer SC, Calley DQ, Hollman JH. Effect of an Exercise Program That Includes Deadlifts on Low Back Pain. J Sport Rehabil. 2021 Feb 24;30(4):672-675. doi: 10.1123/jsr.2020-0324. PMID: 33626500.
Written by Kyle van Heerden
Online Educator at Research Raconteur
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