A modern approach to abdominal training

Active care is a benchmark in the management of low back conditions. Unfortunately, voluntary exercise often perpetuates faulty movement patterns or abnormal motor control (AMC). This series of articles will describe how to train the abdominals and ensure that patients are performing their exercises without AMC. The sit-up is a classic example of an exercise myth. The sit-up places high compressive load on the disc (McGill, 2006, 2007). It usually involves a posterior pelvic tilt which unnecessarily exacerbates disc load (Hickey and Hukins, 1980). Also, it is frequently performed early in the morning which is a time of high risk for annular injury (Adams and Hutton, 1985). Better and safer abdominal exercises exist which will be described in this series of papers.