Three Exercises to Be Avoided For Lower Back Pain

Well, all of us are guilty of getting carried away by the body building exercises printed in magazines. Not only do we believe all that they write, sometimes they are endorsed further by some doctor, making us even more gullible. Add to this our secret desire to look like all those six packs being sported by sportsmen, models and actors alike displayed so very often by the media, we are like putty in their hands. So, instead of exercising or working out to remain healthy and strong we start wanting to look massive. Exercise routine meant for overall health and fitness is vastly different from body building exercises advocated by weight lifting champions and Mr. America's. Research has revealed that increasing your overall bodily strength in a proper and regulated manner is far more important and advisable to increasing your muscle size.

So, those of you who have done (or are aiming to do) some excessive body building exercises and wound up with lower back pain, here are some exercises BEST AVOIDED.

1) Back Loaded Exercises: Back loaded squats and lunges are a trial to your spinal cord. When you load your back with a barbell you are actually compressing the spine causing it injury and unnecessary strain. Repeat exercises of the same style just add to that injury and other complications. The loaded exercise also has an added negative effect of reducing height especially for people with lower back pain.

2) Crunches & Leg Raises: Crunches and Leg raisers are intended to achieve what is called the "six pack abs". Unfortunately people seem to forget that nothing can be achieved in a day or for that matter in a month and they wind up overdoing the crunches and Leg raisers. This leads to the flexion chain imbalance pulling your hip forward and your rib cage down making you look slumped and exposing you to a flat back syndrome and back pain.

3) Sit ups: Sit ups are a strength training exercise commonly performed for strengthening of abdominal muscles. Unfortunately these exercises have more effect on the hip flexors which are attached to the vertebrae of the lower back. Research has revealed that sit ups can be dangerous due to high compressive lumbar load. For people who train excessively in this exercise and for people who have a weak spine there is risk of spinal damage.

Injury of ligaments, tendons and bones are caused due to tissue failure. Tissue strain or failure is caused by tension, shear, compression and torsion. Mild but continuous or sudden and heavy strain can both overload the tissues capacity resulting in injury of body parts. Injury also depends on each person's specific capacity to withstand strain. So, those with back pain please avoid the above said exercises and those who are planning to exercise consult a good advisor and do not over strain.