You may have heard that you need to train your abs and core muscles. It’s true… But the question is are crunches and sit ups bad for your back?
Many trainers and doctors recommend them, but are they good or bad for your spine and back pain? Watch the video below to find out my take on it:
If you have any questions, leave them below!
Related:
How to strengthen your low back and core
The glute bridge exercise
Exercises to improve your posture
Cobra Pose for beginners
Corrective Exercise Specialist (NASM-CES), Certified Personal Trainer (NASM-CPT), Professional Dancer
As a long time back sufferer Leon found unique methods to alleviate his pain using natural methods including self massage, exercise/stretching and postural habits. He founded Backintelligence.com to empower others to fix their postures and ease their back pain from home.
Wonderful site with some new-to-me information. Thanks!
I Have terrible low back pain I can’t do yoga I’ve had two operations so please send me the videos that concern core muscles of the back. Thank you. Keep up the good work.
Here are some of the core and low back exercises: https://backintelligence.com/exercises-to-strengthen-lower-back/
Do you have a citation for a trial that shows a direct cause and effect relationship between abdominal crunches and/or sit-ups and herniated discs? I’m not trying to be confrontational, it’s just that I’ve seen no complaints from people on resistance exercise sites to indicate problems of this nature with properly done abdominal crunches. Of course the idiocy of Cross Fit could cause problems with almost any body part. Thanks.
There was a study that showed that sitting esp in hunched position, esp with weight puts the most pressure on the spine’s discs. Here is a source: https://www.aafp.org/afp/1999/0201/p575.html
Thanks. That paper doesn’t seem to address sit-ups and abdominal crunches, however. It mostly targets patients with existing back pain.