Abs Will Limit Your Aches and Pains

AS YOU AGE, it’s common to experience some joint pain—most
likely in your knees, but maybe around your feet and ankles,
too. But the source of that pain might not be weak joints; it
might be weak abs—especially if you’re any kind of athlete, from
the serious golfer to the I-pull-my-groin-every-time Thanksgiving
Day football player. When you’re playing sports, your abdominal
muscles help stabilize your body during start-and-stop
movements, like changing direction on the football field or
tennis court. If you have weak abdominal muscles, your joints
absorb all the force from those movements. It’s kind of like
trampoline physics. Jump in the center, and the mat will absorb
your weight and bounce you back in the air. Jump toward the
side of the trampoline, where the mat meets the frame, and
you’ll bust the springs. Your body is sort of like a trampoline,
with your abs as the center of the mat and your joints as the
supports that hold the mat to the frame. If your abs are strong
enough to absorb some shock, you’ll function well. If they’re not,
the force puts far more pressure on your joints than they were
built to withstand.
Similar protection benefits extend to people who aren’t athletes,
too. That Dutch study of nearly 6,000 men found that
those with waist circumferences above 40 inches were more
likely to have a condition called Sever’s disease, which causes
heel pain, and to develop carpal tunnel syndrome, a painful
hand and wrist condition. One study even found that 70 percent
14 T H E A B S D I E T
of people with carpal tunnel syndrome were either overweight
or obese.