Sit-ups or paralysis The US military is training
In primary and secondary school physical education classes, sit-ups are one of the most common sports, especially starting from the third grade of primary school. Boys and girls have to participate in the test, more than 40 times a minute to achieve excellence. However, a recent rumor about sit-ups has made parents nervous. What's going on? Let's take a look at the news first -
A 25-year-old Taiwanese man felt weak from the neck down after doing several sit-ups. When he was sent to the hospital, he was conscious, but he was quadriplegic and incontinent. After a doctor's examination, he found that the man was sitting on his back with his head in his hands, causing the blood vessels in the cervical spine to burst under continuous force, and the blood clot pressed the nerve, so the whole body was paralyzed from the neck down. After timely surgery and rescue, the man recovered to health.
The Wall Street Journal also published an article in the health section on December 21 last year, "Why you can stop doing sit-ups", saying that fitness experts and military experts are pushing hard to replace sit-ups with exercises such as plank support to avoid back injuries. The US military even plans to abolish sit-ups in training programs.
Does seemingly simple sit-ups really do so much harm to the body?
Can this sport continue?
Yesterday, the reporter interviewed fitness coaches, doctors, and school physical education teachers to hear their opinions.
Doctors and fitness trainers:
It is easy to cause lumbar muscle strain
Let's first consult with fitness trainers and doctors to see if the commonly used sit-ups are harmful to the body.
According to the requirements of the 2014 version of the "National Student Physical Health Standards", the standard posture of the sit-up is as follows - the subject lies on the cushion, the legs are slightly apart, the knees are bent at a 90-degree angle, and the fingers are crossed behind the head.
However, professional fitness trainers disagree with this pose.
"People who participate in professional bodybuilding competitions rarely practice sit-ups." Shen Chao, a fitness coach, told reporters that when practicing sit-ups, the main exercises are the erector spines, multifida muscles and quadratus lumbar muscles. Those who need to exercise these muscle groups are generally those who are sedentary for a long time, and their waist strength is relatively weak. "In fact, when doing the exercise, everyone uses their hands to hug the back of the head and push forward to drive the upper body to sit up. Compared with the exercise of these muscle groups, the damage to the neck and spine is too great."
In the opinion of Xu Jifeng, an attending orthopedic doctor at Zhejiang Provincial People's Hospital, the impact of sit-ups on primary and secondary school students and adults is different.
A large proportion of those who come to see Mr. Xu are adults with psoas strain. The latest case is Mr. Zhou, 32, whose low back pain was caused by a gym workout two weeks ago. At that time, Mr. Zhou practiced the two sets of sit-ups and stretches, and because there was no fitness instructor by his side, he adopted the common practice: holding his head in his hands and moving his upper body, which turned out to be a problem.
Mr. Zhou's back muscles had already been strained, Mr. Xu said, and the pain lasted for two weeks. "Some patients may also develop recurrent chronic muscle strain."
For elementary and middle school students, "excessive sit-ups or incorrect posture may not be noticeable when you are young, but when you grow up, the muscles will be more prone to strain, and bone development will also have a certain impact." Xu Jifeng said, "More seriously, there is a latent risk of inducing lumbar disc herniation. Because this action has a process of pressing the disc, if the action is violent, it will cause organic damage."
In his opinion, children who are too young or who have diseases of the lumbar spine should try not to do sit-ups.
Physical education teacher:
The action of holding your head with both hands will not change for the time being.
Fitness coaches and doctors all agree that our commonly used sit-ups are harmful to the body. Is it possible to cancel this item in primary and secondary school physical education classes? Or change the movements?
According to the National Physical Health Standards for Students, sit-ups are not required for children in the lower grades of primary school. The one-minute test starts from the third grade of primary school and continues until the university. The passing standard for third-grade students is 16, and the excellent standard is 42. I believe that whether it is the post-70s or post-00s, there have been classmates who have helped press their feet and gritted their teeth to do sit-ups one by one.
Will the school cancel the sports assessment program?
Yesterday, Qian Bao reporters interviewed many primary and secondary school physical education teachers in Hangzhou, and their answers were surprisingly consistent: not likely in the short term. Because sit-ups are easy to learn and do not require too many auxiliary means, and there are not many physical education classes in primary schools, the opportunities to practice sit-ups are limited. As long as you prepare for activities in advance and master the essentials of movements, you can avoid accidental injuries if you are too fast or too violent.
What about the "hands on your head" movement, which has been criticized by experts and fitness coaches? Will it be changed? Physical education teachers say that this movement is required by the "National Student Physical Health Standards" and is not likely to be changed in the short term.
It seems that students have to carry out the sit-ups to the end. But parents don't need to worry too much. Many physical education teachers say that they usually remind students to use abdominal strength, not arm strength, when doing sit-ups, because it is not the movement itself that causes damage, but the problem of force. "Generally speaking, most children's movements are still standard. Moreover, children need to exercise waist strength, which is more suitable for dynamic exercise. Sit-ups are an easy-to-operate dynamic exercise." A senior primary school physical education teacher said that in the classroom, teachers will also use other methods to improve children's waist and abdominal strength, and will not rely solely on sit-ups.
