Avoid Back Pain By Skipping Sit-Ups And Crunches

If you have back pain, you’ve probably heard that you should do sit-ups.  While strong abdominal (stomach) muscles are good, sit-ups can be not so good.  Here’s why:

• Your abdomen is basically the “front of your back.”  Some of the muscles that attach to your spine are actually accessible through your soft abdomen by a trained massage or muscle therapist.  Sometimes the muscles in the “front of your back” are the ones that cause your lower back pain.
• When you do sit-ups, the movement removes the natural curve from your lower back; it makes it flatter.  The curve is good–it’s there for a reason.
• When you do sit-ups, it’s easy to strain your neck muscles.
• Sit-ups shorten your abdominal muscles.  Short muscles in front help flatten your lower back and take away your natural curve.  Short muscles in the front of your body make it harder to keep good posture.  Good posture helps prevent back pain.

What are some safer options?

• Suck in your abdomen.  That strengthens your muscles without aggravating any other part of your body.
• Do reverse crunches.  Rather than raising your head, reverse crunches curl your pubic bone toward your nose by using your abdominal or stomach muscles.  Your head never leaves the floor and nothing gets strained.

How do you do a reverse curl?

• Lie on your back, knees up.
• Curl your knees upward; move your knees so they are over your waist.
• Activate your stomach muscles (not your hips, legs or butt.)
• Contract (squeeze) your abdominals and bring your knees closer to your face.  Your tailbone will leave the floor but your head does not.

Remember the key to being pain-free is having muscular balance on all sides of your body.  If you have a strong back AND the front of your body is also strong–so all of the muscles are working in balance–you can get rid of your back pain.

Want to discover more about what happens when you have muscle imbalances?

Go to Back Pain Natural Relief.  There are lots of articles to help you discover how to get rid of your back pain naturally.