Standard sit-ups do not cause paralysis. Professor Wang Renwei, an expert in sports ergonomics at Shanghai Institute of Physical Education, said that the key lies not in sit-ups, but in the traditional sit-ups. Straighten your legs, hold your head with your hands and press your upper limbs down. This is a traditional sit-up action. Nowadays, many people basically use this method to do sit-ups. Wang Renwei pointed out that this action is wrong. If it is done for a long time, three parts of the human body will be damaged. First, the cervical spine is damaged. Because the head is held too hard and the neck flexes too much, it is easy to cause neck muscle strain, especially for junior high school students and primary school students who have not yet developed their bodies. Followed by spinal injury. Proper sit-ups will involve gluteal muscles and abdominal muscles, so you need to arch your back, which will easily lead to spinal injury. This risk exists not only in people with poor abdominal muscle strength, but also in people who exercise regularly. They need to do enough sit-ups in training tasks, which makes their abdominal muscles extremely tired, which may also lead to spinal injury. The third is the pressure of gluteal muscles. The main function of sit-ups is to enhance the strength of abdominal muscles, but many people who are eager to achieve success exert too much force, which turns abdominal muscle contraction into gluteal muscle contraction, which will cause gluteal muscle pain.

Professor Wang Renwei gave the standard action of sit-ups:

Hands are naturally stretched flat on the side of the body or crossed on the chest;

If you put your hands behind your neck or the back of your head, be careful not to hold your hands tightly around your neck.

She pointed out that such sit-ups are difficult, but practitioners should not rush to achieve success. At first, they should finish it as soon as possible, instead of working hard, step by step.