Stop the Sit-ups and Save Your Back

When I see someone with back pain I always ask them what kind of routine they are following, and a lot of the times I hear, ‘'I usually do 100 sit-ups in the morning”

Sit-ups are not the right thing to do for lower back pain. It is easily in the top ten of the worst exercises for lower back pain and it’s the worst possible thing you could do for the back first thing in the morning.

Discs in the spine are hydrophilic, which means they suck up water while you sleep and when there are no stresses present.

After rising, hydrostatic stresses of just walking around and using the muscles during the day compress your spine and the fluid is squeezed out, decreasing tensions in the disc.

So, when you wake up the extra height in the discs are like a full water balloon ready to burst and if you bend, you build up much higher stresses in the disc. In fact, the stresses are three times higher than when you perform the same bend two or three hours later.

Dr. Stuart McGill, professor of spine biomechanics at the University of Waterloo, studied the effects of selected exercises on the lower back muscle activity and spine pressure levels. Sit-ups were one of the exercises Dr. McGill and his colleagues analyzed. What they found was that sit-ups generated approximately 3500 Newton’s of pressure or roughly 786 pounds of force.

According to Dr. McGill and the NIOSH (National Institute for Occupational Safety) pressures above 3300 Newton’s correlates with more lower back injuries.

Well, what if you bend your knees when you do sit-ups? Sorry, the bent-knee sit-up is second on the list for elevated spine pressures coming in at 3350 Newton’s. Still very high and a potential cause of lower back injuries.

Instead of sit-ups, do a modified curl-up to achieve the same if not more co-contraction of the abdominals, oblique and rectus abdominus.

Here’s how to perform it.

To begin the hands or a rolled towel are placed under the lumbar spine to preserve a neutral spine posture. Do not flatten the back to the floor. Flattening the back flexes the lumbar spine, violates the neutral spine principle and increases the loads on the disc and ligaments.

One knee is flexed but the other leg is straight to lock the pelvis-lumbar
spine and minimize the loss of a neutral lumbar posture.

The curl-up is performed by raising the head and the upper shoulders off the floor. The motion takes place in the thoracic spine – not the lumbar or cervical region.

Once you raise the head and shoulders off the floor, hold that posture for 7- 8 seconds, do not hold your breath but breath deeply.

Alternate the bent leg (right to left) midway through the repetitions.

The removal of sit-ups and the addition of a curl up to your exercise program will ensure a long healthy relationship with your lower back.


Be safe
JC

p.s. Sorry for the grainy video, and the horrible carpet and drapes. This guy needs a design makeover... but his technique is good.