Allow me to explain how strength transforms pain, and injury in my particular case.
My right knee sometimes bothers me during my deadlifts and at other times, too - it's the worse knee. The solution to my knee pain isn't to stop doing deadlifts, but to focus on being sure I am keeping all three contact points of my foot firmly into the ground, and screwing my feet towards the outside, and really pushing hard into the ground as I break the bar off the floor. When I do those things, my knee stops hurting _and_ my deadlift gets stronger. That's a win/win if ever there was one.
That's but one example of the kind of thing we talk about when we discuss improving strength by improving technical skill at a lift. This kind of finding ways to use your strength is also the secret to greater flexibility once you understand that your body insists on you demonstrating strength in any position before it will let you relax in that position and eventually go further. Even stretching should be StrongFirst.
-S-