研究顯示:做仰臥起坐可能會對身體產生傷害

Many sportspeople do sit-ups as part of a raft of exercises which aim to improve their core stability, but research from Thomas Nesser from Indiana State University suggests that improving your core stability doesn't necessarily result in better athletic performance.

很多運動人士將仰臥起坐作爲鍛鍊的一種方式，來提高自己身體核心區的穩定性。但是印第安納州立大學的托馬斯·內賽爾的研究表明，核心區穩定性的提高不一定會讓你在運動上有很好的表現。

Whether or not they provide you with precisely the physique or fitness you desire, could sit-ups bring unintended consequences such as back pain? Stuart McGill, professor of spine biomechanics at the University of Waterloo in Canada has been studying sit-ups for years and is convinced that the traditional crunch does indeed cause us harm.

不管仰臥起坐是否真的能助你實現你想要的體格或健身效果，它們有可能會帶來如背部疼痛這樣意想不到的後果嗎？加拿大滑鐵盧大學的生物力學脊柱教授斯圖爾特·麥吉爾對仰臥起坐已經研究多年，深信這一傳統的收腹運動確實會有損我們的身體。

He conducted dozens of studies in his spine biomechanics lab using the cadavers of pigs, repeatedly flexing their spines in a similar way as a person might when doing a sit-up, but for many, many hours at a time. When he examined the discs in the spine afterwards, he found that they had been squeezed to the point where they bulged. If the same thing happened in a human this would press on the nerves, causing back pain, and possibly even a herniated disc.

在脊椎生物力學實驗室，他在豬身上已經進行過幾十次的研究。通過模仿人做仰臥起坐時的姿勢，他不斷地彎曲豬的脊椎，一次長達數小時。隨後，他檢驗豬的脊椎盤，發現彎曲時隆起的部位已經被擠壓成尖狀。如果同樣的事情發生人身上，這將壓迫到神經，造成背部疼痛，甚至可能是椎間盤突出。

Pigs were chosen for this experiment because their spines are more similar to human spines than those of many other animals, but of course critics of these studies point out, that there are still many differences between people and pigs. Also these studies involved thousands of continuous cycles of bending. Even when training hard, people take breaks between sets of crunches.

之所以將豬選爲實驗對象，是因爲與其他動物相比，他們的脊椎與人類的脊椎相似度更高。當然，研究的反對者指出，人和豬之間仍有許多不同之處。此外，在研究過程中，對豬的脊椎進行彎曲的頻次過多。而對於人來說，訓練再刻苦，中間也會有休息。

Perhaps these results tell us what might happen at the extremes in the unlikely event that you were to do sit-ups for hour upon hour, but in real life it's clearly not the case that most people damage their discs most of the time when doing sets of 15 sit-ups. However, injuries can happen. Research published in 2005 on soldiers stationed at the US military's Fort Bragg attributed 56% of all the injuries sustained during the two-yearly Army Physical Fitness Test, to sit-ups.

也許這些研究結果告訴我們的是極端情況下的後果，就像你幾乎不可能一小時接着一小時地一直做仰臥起坐。在現實生活中，大部分人一般只是做15組仰臥起坐。而即便如此，傷害還是有可能會發生。2005年對駐紮在布拉格堡的美軍士兵的研究表明，在兩年的陸軍體能測試期中，56%的傷害歸因於仰臥起坐。

Some people seem to be more prone to back problems caused by sit-ups than others. We might be fine doing 30 sit-ups a day for decades, but we might not and it's hard to know which group we fall into. It could come down to our genes. According to one paper, it's not wear-and-tear that causes most of the difficulties, but genetic factors, which account for three-quarters of the differences between the people who do get back problems and those who don't.

對於有些人來說，仰臥起坐似乎更容易產生腰背問題。反之，一些人每天都做30個仰臥起坐，堅持了幾十年，卻沒有任何異樣。我們可能不知道也很難知道我們是屬於哪一類人。這可能源於我們的基因。根據一篇文章指出，大部分的問題並非源於不斷的摩擦和撕裂，而是遺傳因素。人之所以有或沒有背部問題，75%是因爲遺傳的關係。

So sit-ups might lead to back pain, but only in some people. It's a good excuse not to do them. But if you want to crunch those abs, is there a way of limiting the risk? Professor Stuart McGill recommends sliding your hands under your lower back to stop it flattening against the floor. This minimises the stress on your back.

所以，對一部分人來說，仰臥起坐可能導致背部疼痛。這是一個不做仰臥起坐的很好的藉口。但是，若想要平坦的腹肌，有沒有一種風險更低的方式?斯圖爾特·麥吉爾教授建議，將雙手滑動到下背部，避免下背部直接接觸地板。這將最大限度地減少背部壓力。