Lower Back Pain - 5 of the Worst Exercises You Should Never Do

Did you know that some of the worst exercises for lower back pain are the exact ones that are typically recommended by health care professionals?

Most low back pain sufferers have very weak abdominal muscles and are usually told to perform exercises to strengthen the abdominals.

It has been my experience to avoid certain exercises at all costs. If you want to relieve low back pain then you need to know the 5 worst exercises for your low back.

#1: Sit-ups- I have never had a client of mine perform a traditional sit-up. Sit-ups are the absolute worst exercise. Now, most health professionals have gotten away from recommending this exercise, but there still are some who do. Sit-ups pose a couple of major problems.

First, performing the exercise with hands behind your head can aggravate or develop strain on your cervical spine (your neck). Because of the typical abdominal weakness most low back pain sufferers have, they cannot effectively initiate movement of the trunk by engaging the abdominals. So, instead they begin to pull at the head which causes strain to the cervical spine.

Second, sit-ups involve the hip flexors more than the abdominals. Your hip flexors are active in such movements where you bring your knee up. For example, when walking up a flight of stairs your hip flexors lift your leg to you can put your foot up on the next step.

But, your hip flexors also attach to each vertebrae on your lumbar spine. When you overuse these muscles they generate force that pulls from the lumbar area of the spine which causes stress to your lower back.

#2: Crunches- Traditional crunches were used as a safe alternative to the sit-up. Technically, crunches utilize the abdominals and stretch the spinal erectors which can help alleviate low back pain.

But, here a few interesting facts that make crunches one of the top 5 worst exercises for your low back:

• fact #1- crunches primarily engage the rectus abdominis, commonly called the "six pack" muscles. The rectus abdominis functions to flex your spine as when bending forward at the waist. Crunches fail to engage the entire abdominal complex (internal obliques, external obliques and transverse abdominis). Your entire abdominal complex is what provides a strong and stable foundation for your lower back.



• fact #2- the more crunches you perform over time your body eventually begins to develop a stooped forward posture or "hunch back". This is really bad because it puts a lot of stress on your lower back. It also weakens the muscles of your upper and mid-back which are extremely important to maintain good posture and protect your lower back.



• fact #3- the majority of low back pain sufferers are considered overweight to some extent. So, exercise focused on burning more calories and body fat is an important key to managing back pain. The less fat you carry around your midsection the less stress to your lower back. Crunches are one of the least effective exercises for burning calories.

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#3- Leg raises- This exercise is probably the 2nd worst exercise you can do for lower back pain for the same reason as sit-ups. Leg raises have the potential to involve the hip flexors even more than sit-ups because your legs a longer and weigh more.

#4- Torso twists on machines- This exercise involves sitting on a machine where you hold a couple handles with a pad at your chest and twist from side to side pulling weight from the machine. Too many people load up this machine with too much weight and/or perform the twist improperly which can create shearing forces at the spine and injure the disks that protect your spine.

#5- Low back extensions- This is the machine where you sit with a weighted pad at your back. You lean forward then push yourself back up to sitting upright against the resisted pad. Low back pain does not necessarily mean you have a "weak low back" and need to strengthen it. At least not in this manner. This type of movement overuses the muscles of the lower back which is one of the most common reasons why people develop low back problems in the first place.

So, performing this exercise only compounds the initial problem by training you to overuse your lower back muscles.