People have been doing some version of sit ups for years in an effort to flatten their stomachs, tone their abdomen and strengthen their cores. Have all these years of working the abdominals reaped havoc on the back? Experts do not agree on the subject. Many people say that sit ups strengthen the muscles of the abdomen and back while others say that sit ups can damage the spinal column or its discs leading to lower back pain for the rest of your life.
Why Do Sit Ups Damage Your Back?
The range of motion most people use in doing a sit up is that it causes the spine to curve forward. For the first 30% of this motion you are using the abdominal muscles to lift your body up. The other 70% of the motion of a sit up is completed using the hip flexors. This compresses the front of the spinal discs in a pinching motion. When sit ups are done in the early morning after laying flat sleeping at night the discs have more fluid in them and the risk of damage is increased. Some experts believe that the spinal discs have a wear point and each sit up done decreases the life of the discs wear; eventually we reach the maximum amount of compressions and the disc is blown.
How Do Sit Ups Damage Your Back?
Performing a repetition of sit ups routinely can cause the spinal column to curve forward and pinch. This action causes wear and tear on the discs which provide the cushion between the vertebrae. Wearing these cushions thin or damaging them can cause the vertebrae to rub together causing severe pain. If you do 100 sit ups each day you have done 700 sit ups each week and 36,400 sit ups each year. The repeated action causes strain on the muscles of the back as well as the discs that support the bones of the back.
Do Sit Ups Damage Your Back Even When Done Correctly?
If a sit up is done keeping the back straight there would be less curving and pinching of the spinal column and discs. It would follow that this would decrease the risk of damage to the back while doing sit ups. This way of doing a sit up would take extreme muscle control to not curve your bodies forward as you are attempting to lift it up. The major problem with this theory is doing the sit up without curving the back bone forward since as your body tires it will naturally curve forward for your arms and shoulders to help with the lift.