Is powerlifting unhealthy?
- 2 days ago
- 5 min read
A systematic review published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine in 2017 ( Aasa et al. ) has been misinterpreted on social media for years.
Many people think this article says "powerlifting is risky." However, the article says the exact opposite:
Powerlifting and Olympic weightlifting have roughly the same injury rates as similar strength sports and lower rates than many other popular contact sports.
So the research shows that this sport is safer than expected , not "dangerous ." Nevertheless, to take these results out of context and interpret them as "powerlifting is harmful to health" simply because the word "injury" appears in an article showing injury rates, is to misunderstand not only the data but also the nature of science.
Moreover, the group in question here is not the entire population, but the competitors. Professional competitors, who make up only a very small percentage of athletes worldwide. In other words, this research was conducted not for people doing squats, deadlifts, and bench presses in the gym, but for elite powerlifters competing at an international level .
This nuanced difference is the essence of the whole debate. Professional sport is not training for health. Comparing the biomechanical load of a professional powerlifter to the "sports risk for healthy individuals" is as meaningless as seeing a Formula 1 driver's accident and saying "driving a car is harmful to health."
What does the article say, and what does it NOT say?
Aasa et al.'s review examined nine different studies and evaluated injury rates among professional powerlifting athletes . The results are as follows:
