Posts Tagged "back pain core"

Why Does My Neck Hurt When I Do Sit-Ups?

Posted by mark in Neck Pain Essentials |

In the clinic yesterday I was asked this question “why does my neck hurt when I do sit-ups?” My answer to my client astounded him.

I didn’t want to take the wind out of his sails, I felt it necessary to let him down gently, you know, to put him on the right track without disillusioning him so I said to him as delicately as I possibly could “you are screwing up your back, your neck and you haven’t got a hope in hell of getting a six pack eating the crap that you eat”.

In hindsight I may have been able to sugar coat my words a little more.

Before I could continue however, he told me that he ‘didn’t keep his hands behind his head because he knew that when his stomach muscles get tired he will then start using his hands on his head to pull rather than using his stomach muscles to initiate the movement which could hurt his neck,  so that’s not it’.

He then told me before I could get a breath in that he ‘doesn’t push his head forward when doing the sit-ups thus keeping good alignment between his shoulders and neck,  so that can’t be it’.

He then went on to tell me that he keeps his legs bent to protect his spine and lower back (which is absolutely false by the way) and that he was doing sit-ups to get a ‘ripped stomach’  and ‘six pack’ he said.( which also won’t work unless..)

Firstly, I said, the studies show that it doesn’t matter whether your legs are straight, bent or tucked neatly behind your ears you are doing damage to your back with each and every sit-up that you do.  Also, there is an old saying that says that ‘a six pack is made in the kitchen not in the gym’. What this means is that you could do 300 sit-ups(but of course you  are not going to because you now know that it damages your back and there are much better ways to strengthen your stomach and core) but unless you have a good diet to keep your fat to a minimum, you will perhaps have the best hidden six pack.

Now, whilst you got me talking about doing sit-ups and fat loss lets remove another myth when it comes to these. I see people doing sit-ups or crunches to get fat off their stomachs. This is a myth! You know all of those infomercials where you see those super fit models using ‘ab crunchers’ and other stomach fat removing exercise machines? Well, let me tell you, they aren’t getting those super fit, super cut bodies doing ‘just 5 minutes a day on their wonder machines’ and spending the other 23 hours 55 minutes tucking into the fridge watching cable TV all day and night. The commercials will want you to believe that of course.

Doing sit-ups does not take fat off your stomach! Just like doing bicep curls does not take fat off your biceps. Exercising like this builds muscle AND takes fat off your whole body-it is not area specific. In other words, doing a heap of sit-ups will remove fat off your waist, butt, legs arms ears and stomach. It is the burning of calories that removes the fat. The good news is that the more you increase your muscle, the higher your resting metabolic rate is and that means that faster you will burn fat just resting. Now that’s good news indeed.

So, those of you who want to strengthen your stomachs and get a six pack or would just like to have a stronger core-do crunches and things like the plank exercise but not sit-ups.

Keep a check on your diet, in other words don’t eat highly processed highly refined foods, cut out (or if you absolutely can’t help yourself – cut down) on junk foods, sodas and alcohol consumption. If you eat white rice-change to brown, cut out potatoes and pasta and stop drinking beer, do some regular cardio and just you watch the weight fall off.

For those die hards who still feel that they must do some sit-ups against all of the documented research against doing them and have neck pain when they do them, here is what you need to do.

Put your hand on your forehead and press your head against your hand without letting any movement take place. Hold for a few seconds and do 5 reps of these. The place your hand on the back of your head and do the same. Then put your hand on the sides of your head doing the same exercise. This isometric exercise will strengthen your intrinsic neck muscles and help strengthen your neck.

Another thing to do whether you are doing crunches (recommended) or sit-ups (not recommended for all of the above reasons) place your tongue to the roof of your mouth when you do them which also engage your intrinsic neck muscles.

If sit-ups damage my back, what should i do instead?

The 4 best exercises for your lower back

Why is it harder to put your shoes on in the morning than at night?

How to test your core strength-do you have any?

HOW TO TEST YOUR CORE STRENGTH

Posted by mark in Lower Back pain and your core | 0 comments

Core strength-do you have it?

Here is a test for you to see

There is a lot of talk these days about core strength and for very good reasons. You need core strength to help your body in everything you do. If not, you are in a lot higher risk bracket of injury. But how do you know if you have good core strength or not? I will show you a test so that you can evaluate your own core strength.

But why should we even bother about having a strong core? Firstly, it is not just your abdominals as many people believe. Your back, stomach, hips are all a part of what is known as your core muscle groups. The reason that these muscles need to be strong is that they support you when you do your daily activities. If they are not strong enough, when you have to do a certain activity your other muscles are then recruited to become stabilisers and you have just set up imbalances leading to injuries.

A classic example of this is the painful lower back when standing. Many people can not stand for very long because their back starts to ache. This is because they do not use their abdominals when standing and allow their lower backs to overarch. This creates a forward tilt in the pelvis. Two perfect examples of this are men with large stomachs (the classic beer belly) and pregnant women. Both suffer from lower back pain due to not using their abdominals to tilt their pelvis which will decrease their arch in their lower backs and remove the back pain. When there is an arch in the lower back that is bigger than it should be it then aggravates the facet joints which causes pain. It is a situation that is totally avoidable! Have you ever wondered why they have that rail in bars for you to put a foot on? It’s because by putting one foot up on the rail takes away some of the arch (from the forward tilted pelvis) and helps the lower back. A man with less lower back pain whilst standing will happily drink more beer! Very clever indeed.

Once you start using your core muscles for things as simple as standing correctly you will have less back pain. An easy way to check this is to look at a person’s belt from side on. The belt should be horizontal not tipped down at the front. So often you will see the person’s belt higher at the back and lower at the front. This is because they are not using their abdominals.

I will be doing a workshop soon on the facts and fallacies of lower back pain and teaching why your back ‘goes out’, how to fix your own back pain, the safest back strengthening exercises, best core exercise combinations and much more.

But for the moment

Rest assured I will be watching your back…

Oh yes, here’s the test for your core

The core strength test

• Lay down in a plank position on your forearms. (This is the position as if you were doing a push-up but instead of your hands touching the ground you are resting on your forearms.) Do not arch your back! Your back should be straight which works your abdominals. Hold for one minute.if you can do this for one minute you have good core strength. if you can do it for 30-60 seconds you average core strength and if you can do it for less than 30 seconds you dont have core strength!

if you could do it for 60 seconds you may like to try the advanced core test below

• Now in the same position lift the right arm of the ground and hold for 15 seconds
• Return the right arm and now do the same with the left arm. Hold for 15 seconds.
• Return the left arm and now lift the left leg out straight behind you. Do not arch your lower back. The torso should remain perfectly still, this means that your core is stabilising you. Hold for 15 seconds.
• Return the left leg and do the same with the right leg for 15 seconds. Don’t arch your back.
• Now return the right leg and lift both your left leg and right arm at the same time. Don’t arch your back and try to remain steady at all times. Hold for 15 seconds
• Finally, return the arm and leg and do the opposite arm and leg for 15 seconds.

If you can do this you have good core strength.

If you could not complete this you do not have sufficient core strength and you should do this test as an exercise 3-4 times per week to build up your stamina. You will soon be stronger and have better core strength stamina which means you will have fewer problems with your lower back, your neck and your shoulders.