Reasons why sit-ups hurt your spine

Sit-ups are a very good exercise method, and many people use this method to exercise their bodies. However, many people have unhealthy spines, and if they exercise through sit-ups, they will hurt their spines. So many people want to know if sit-ups can hurt the spine and what kind of exercise method should be used. Regarding this issue, please see the following introduction.

Long-term sit-ups can affect the intervertebral disc

Who among us hasn’t started doing sit-ups in elementary school? At that time, many people were taught by teachers that doing this exercise frequently can train abdominal muscles.

It is true that sit-ups can exercise abdominal muscles, but they also have serious side effects. A study by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) found that straight-leg sit-ups exert 3,500 Newtons of pressure on the spine, and bent-knee sit-ups exert 3,350 Newtons of pressure on the spine. Any compression force over 3,000 Newtons is harmful to the body.

Professor McGill, director of the biomechanics research department at the University of Waterloo in Canada, discovered through experiments that when exercisers use their abdominal muscles during sit-ups, they are also exercising their hip flexors, which can easily lead to back bending and spinal damage. People with underdeveloped abdominal muscles are particularly susceptible to injury.

In one of the studies, Professor McGill placed the pigs' spines on a special machine and had them bend and straighten hundreds of times to simulate doing sit-ups. At the end of the experiment, almost all of the intervertebral discs were completely ruptured. This also proves that long-term sit-ups will affect the intervertebral discs.

In view of these problems, the US military has cancelled the traditional sit-ups in the physical training of new recruits since 2010.

Abdominal crunch method is a good way to exercise abdominal muscles

Sit-ups have too many side effects in fighting belly fat. Does that mean the world will never be a better place? Of course not. To deal with "Michelin", you can use safer crunches instead. Professor McGill also believes that crunches can not only allow the abdominal muscles you want to fully respond, but also help avoid damage to the spine and intervertebral discs as much as possible.

The above introduction shows that sit-ups can cause damage to the spine, so for many friends who encounter this situation, you can exercise your body through sit-ups. Moreover, by exercising in this way, you can increase your abdominal muscles as quickly as possible, so you might as well try it. I believe it will have a good exercise effect.