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Home » Articles » Core » Are Crunches & Sit Ups Bad For Your Back?

Are Crunches & Sit Ups Bad For Your Back?

By: Leon Turetsky (NASM-CPT, NASM-CES), Last Updated: March 5, 2020

Are sit ups bad for your back?

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

Leon Turetsky CEO of Back Intelligence
Leon Turetsky (NASM-CPT, NASM-CES)

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.

Filed Under: Back Pain (General), Core

Comments

  1. EdwardEdward says

    January 3, 2020 at 2:45 pm

    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.

    • Leon Turetsky (NASM-CPT, NASM-CES)Leon Turetsky (NASM-CPT, NASM-CES) says

      January 7, 2020 at 10:50 pm

      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

      • EdwardEdward says

        January 8, 2020 at 7:32 am

        Thanks. That paper doesn’t seem to address sit-ups and abdominal crunches, however. It mostly targets patients with existing back pain.

  2. MarkMark says

    August 23, 2019 at 3:29 pm

    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.

    • Leon Turetsky (NASM-CPT, NASM-CES)Leon Turetsky (NASM-CPT, NASM-CES) says

      August 30, 2019 at 9:36 pm

      Here are some of the core and low back exercises: https://backintelligence.com/exercises-to-strengthen-lower-back/

  3. EveEve says

    March 3, 2019 at 10:02 am

    Wonderful site with some new-to-me information. Thanks!

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