Lateral Deadlift
Foundational Exercise
The lateral deadlift is an asymmetrical version of the deadlift. The patient has a wider stance than a normal deadlift (shoulder width) and laterally shifts their hips over the ipsilateral leg in order to create a vertical line intersecting their ipsilateral ankle, knee, and hip.
Unstable variations
The unstable variations of the lateral deadlift will accentuate ground reaction forces.
A patient struggled with ipsilateral hip IR and adduction (trendelenberg) during the lateral deadlift. Having the patient focus on maintaining pressure through their contralateral toes helped to control the GRF at the contralateral foot, preventing contralateral hip ER which reduced ipsilateral hip IR.
Unstable fixed axis
- Indoboard on cushion
- InvertedBosu ball
I consider this “convex” since the platform you are standing on will create an inverted parabola in the frontal plane. When you load ipsilateral side, the ipsilateral side drops and the contralateral side rises.
Unstable rolling axis
- Indoboard on roller or ball
The unstable with momentum variation allows the axis to move along the underside of the indoboard. As it rolls the platform will follow a parabolic path in order to maintain balance.