Is lifting bad for your back? Marcos Sacristán's myth number 4

In a July 2026 video on the Spanish YouTube channel Fisioterapia a tu alcance, the physiotherapist Marcos Sacristán works through five back pain myths. Myth number 4 is that lifting wrecks your back. Out of fear, Sacristán says, people stop picking up their grandchildren, stop moving boxes, stop bending down for what falls on the floor. A strong spine copes with loads far better than one that has lifted nothing heavier than a cup of coffee for 20 years. Then, in that video, comes the line:

"lo que destroza tu espalda no es coger peso, es no coger peso durante décadas"

(Our translation: "what wrecks your back isn't lifting weight, it's not lifting weight for decades")

Marcos Sacristán, Fisioterapia a tu alcance, 2026

The sentence ends with the moment everyone knows: having to carry a suitcase on the first day of the holiday, unprepared.

The idea in plain words

"Wrecks" is Sacristán's word, and it's a strong one. No study says lifting can never hurt, or that not lifting damages a back. What the evidence does support is the shape of the idea: a back seems to cope best with what it's used to, and trouble often comes with a sudden jump. The suitcase is the jump. So is the first day of gardening in spring, or the move you do in one weekend.

What the research says

Sacristán points to a 2016 review of prevention trials, and its findings are worth stating carefully. Across 21 trials and 30,850 people, exercise combined with education went with fewer new episodes of low back pain in the short term (moderate-quality evidence). Education alone didn't, and nor did back belts or shoe insoles (Steffens et al, 2016). Sacristán quotes a percentage from it; this article leaves the number out, because the effect was clearest in the short term.

Lifting technique alone didn't do much either. In seven workplace trials with 19,317 employees, those taught how to lift reported about as much back pain as those who weren't (Verbeek et al, 2011).

The jump matters too. A 2011 review of ten years of studies found that intense effort in sport or exercise went with more back pain, while everyday activity in leisure time, and gardening, went with less in the studies that looked (Heneweer et al, 2011). These are links, not proof of cause.

And the kind of loading matters less than you'd think. In a trial with 70 adults with long-lasting back pain, training with heavy lifts did about as well as gentle movement training. Both groups improved (Michaelson et al, 2016).

Later in the video, Sacristán promises lifting real weight without pain within two months. No source behind this article supports a timeline like that, so it's left out.

One exception comes before any building up. If the pain started after a serious fall, accident or blow to your back, get medical help straight away. If a new flare isn't getting better after a few weeks, keeps getting worse, or worries you, see a doctor.

How this fits the Manage back pain program

In the 1h Protocol to Manage Back Pain, the Big Day is one of four back-day patterns: a big day, then a flare a day or two later. You start by cutting the next big day into pieces. One of the habits in chapter 2 is Sacristán's point in calmer words: lift the way that feels comfortable, and build up what you lift bit by bit. If you stopped a sport or a routine after your last bad spell, the way back goes on your page, small, a step at a time.

Source: Fisioterapia a tu alcance, Marcos Sacristán, 5 mitos del dolor de espalda que los médicos siguen repitiendo, 12 Jul 2026 Research: Steffens et al, 2016 · Verbeek et al, 2011 · Heneweer et al, 2011 · Michaelson et al, 2016