Don’t Touch Those Toes

When people call to mind images of exercises, they are likely to picture someone touching his toes while bent at the waist. If not that, surely people envision an exerciser doing sit ups. Now comes word that neither of these classics is good for your back. In fact, they could be bad for you. If Web MD is to be believed, touching your toes puts too much pressure on the spine. As for the sit up? Sounds like too many people are doing it wrong–using hip muscles instead of abdominal muscles. This, too stresses the low back. What does help the low back? Something as simple as Child’s Pose, the Yoga position. It is a whole lot easier to do Child’s Pose than to do sit ups. That said, you still need to work on your core to prevent back pain.  The trick is to do your sit ups correctly. Otherwise, you are doing more harm than good. So, skip the boxing gym and head to the Yoga studio if you want less back pain.