Back pain can happen because some muscles are "too strong" while others are "too weak."  Your muscles are out-of-balance.  That's quite common.  Why does it happen?  Lifestyles, mostly.  The sitting disease gets us or we move our out-of-balance muscles in a way they don't happen to like.

You may have heard the advice:  "Strengthen your abdominal muscles."  While strong abdominal (stomach) muscles are good, sit-ups can be NOT so good.  Here's why:

When you do sit-ups, the movement removes the natural curve from your lower back; it makes it flatter.  The curve is good--it's there for a reason. When you do sit-ups, it's easy to strain your neck muscles. Sit-ups shorten your abdominal muscles.  Short muscles in front help flatten your lower back and take away your natural curve.  Short muscles in the front of your body make it harder to keep good posture.  Good posture helps prevent back pain.What are some safer options?

Suck in your abdomen.  That strengthens your muscles without aggravating any other part of your body. Do reverse crunches.  Rather than raising your head, reverse crunches curl your pubic bone toward your nose by using your abdominal or stomach muscles.  Your head never leaves the floor and nothing gets strained.How do you do a reverse curl?
Lay on your back, knees up. Move your knees so they are over your waist. Activate your stomach muscles (not your hips, legs or butt.)    Contract (squeeze) your abdominals and bring your knees closer to your face.  Your tailbone will leave the floor but your head does not.Remember the key to being pain-free is having muscular balance on all sides of your body.  If you have a strong back AND the front of your body is also strong--so all of the muscles are working in balance and harmony--you can get rid of your back pain.