Lower Back Exercises

I am looking for a good substitute for dead lifts as I battle to do them due to a lower back injury. I broke the bottom 3 vertebra and my tailbone in 2000 in a motocross accident. I had to have fusion and bone grafting done due to the severity of the injury. I also damaged some nerves and due to the fusion the movement in my back is not as smooth as it should be and causes pressure on many muscles and nerves. I need an exercise that does not put as much pressure on this area but is a fairly good substitute. Hyper extensions don't work for me either as the motion irritates the nerves. I have always avoided lower back due to this injury but now that I have been training for a few years seriously I want to keep everything in proportion. My strength is good in all other departments and my gains are coming on but I am worried my lower back is going to hamper my future gains, as the weights get heavier.

Hey. I too have a lower back problem. However, for me extensions work great. If you cannot do extensions, then I reccommend using an exercise ball. Do exercises such as shoulder press with dumbells, flies, dumbell press, etc. on the exercise ball. By doing that, those exercises will require you to keep your balance on the ball while working the targeted muscle group. The core (lower back included) will grow in strength.