Have you ever had a neck pain during sit ups? Well, you should be neither surprised nor discouraged when you experience any pains in the neck while doing your sit up exercises, it is a common occurrence and it could be corrected quite easily with the right modifications. You must only understand that any sit up exercise you do impacts greatly on your spine, and hence your neck and any other associated regions in the body. In fact, any neck pain during sit ups is a proof that you are doing something either right or wrong and it is affecting your neck through the spine, and you must either watch what you are doing to gain the most from it or modify it to suit your neck condition. What then are the causes of neck pain during sit ups and what can you do to remedy the situation?

Depending on the kinds of exercises that you are doing, pains in your neck during a sit up exercise means that you are actually straining the muscles and nerves of your neck while exercising the same neck. This is counterproductive and you just cannot damage what you are trying to repair. In this vein, you must always stop when you notice any sharp pains shooting down your spine from your neck, and you must not overdrive yourself while exercising in any way. What then can you do to ensure that you do not hurt yourself while exercising your abs in a way that impacts negatively on your neck?

  1. i.                    Always ensure that your abdominal muscles are tightened when you are exercising in a sit up pattern.  By tightening your abs muscles, they work to shift all pressures to your abs and not your neck, thereby relieving your neck of any pains and undue pressures.
  2. ii.                  It is always advisable to shift your attention to one major spot before you when performing a sit up exercise or crunch so that you do not suddenly shift your neck forward in a way that ends up hurting it.
  3. iii.                You might also consider interlocking your hands behind your neck when doing any sit up exercises so that you could protect your neck muscles as you perform your crunching or sit exercises. This helps to reduce pressures from the neck and place them on the abdominal muscles and your waist, thereby giving room to your neck to heal up in case of any injury.
  4. iv.                Always do any exercise in the company of your physician or health fitness therapist. This is to ensure that you don’t overdo things and incur any neck pain during sit ups that might endanger your health further. Your doctor would be able to help you if you hurt yourself during any sit up exercises, and your therapist would be able to help you with any physical exercises that you do not find very easy and comfortable due to any neck or body injuries. And you must not hesitate to inform them if you are getting pains from these exercises so that they can modify them for you or teach you how to align your neck and spine better for these exercises.

Filed under: Neck Pain Prevention

Like this post? Subscribe to my RSS feed and get loads more!