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Hi, the subject of this GUS talk is the deadlift as a cause of abdominal wall hernias. I've
often heard personal trainers telling deadlifters how to avoid getting a hernia during the deadlift.
Obviously, they must believe that the deadlift could easily cause a hernia, or as most people
would put it: A rupture. And, of course, you are more likely to get a hernia if you do
the lift wrong. The question is, then, whether the deadlift really is likely to cause a hernia.
It certainly is common belief that hernias are caused by a single bout of heavy lifting.
And many people have felt the first symptoms of a hernia as they lift something heavy,
such as on a construction job or just moving furniture around the house. It therefore makes
sense that the deadlift could be a prime cause of hernias. After all, a great amount of strain
can be placed on the abdominal wall, and this strain might tear open the tissues. Now, there
are different kinds of hernias, but surely, if anything can give you one, it is the deadlift.
There is special danger, as many people claim, during the negative phase of the lift, when
you are returning the bar to the floor.
Well, it's all fine and well to talk about what could happen, or what might happen, but
if you want to get down to the nitty gritty, you gotta look at what does happen. If it
were true that heavy lifting was a cause of hernias, we'd expect to see more hernias in
strength trainees, Olympic lifters, Powerlifters, and other strength athletes. But we do not.
There simply are not more hernias in this population than in the general population.
Now, as you listened to this, it may have made you think of the term "sports hernia."
If athletes don't get a lot of hernias, why is there such a thing as a sports hernia?
Sports hernias, it turns out, are not really hernias at all. You see, in a sports hernia,
there is no actual hole in the abdominal wall. Sports hernia is considered a misnomer by
many experts, and it is sometimes called a pseudohernia. There is longstanding groin
pain, and this pain can extend to the scro...***, such as in an inguinal hernia, but it is a
strain or stretching of tissues with no actual opening, and certainly none of the contents
of the abdominal cavity are [laughing] protruding through a hole that does not exist. The tissues
that are stretched and strained are actually some of the groin muscles. The operation that
is sometimes done to correct a sports hernia is similar to the operation for an actual
hernia, so you can see how this could cause some confusion. But here's the thing, a sports
hernia is not even more common in lifters. It's actually more common in athletes such
as tennis players, hockey players, and soccer players. I'll provide a link below this video
talk so you can read more about sports hernias.
Although it is still possible that the highly increased intra-abdominal pressure during
the deadlift could force abdominal contents through weak natural openings, or acquired
openings, there is no evidence that this is a common occurrence during the lift. If you
develop the symptoms of a hernia during the lift, it's quite likely that you already had
the hernia, and perhaps for years. A hernia can go unnoticed and symptom free for a very
long period of time, and it is possible to have a hernia that never really even bothers
you. A groin pull, especially during returning the bar, is quite possible, and the symptoms
of such a strain could easily mimic a hernia. Now, although I would never tell you that
heavy deadlifting is a risk free activity, I think that you can rest assured that there
is not a high risk for hernia during the lift, in general.