I'm curious about crunches

[IWillBeLight]

I have a back injury of some type, my large toes are numb, but the feeling returns after long runs.. and my back is some days sore, some days not, but unfortunately with no medical insurance, the doctor I went to told me it was a strained muscle (about 2 months ago. lol) and it's been here for like 8 months now. So, I still try to get some work outs in, and keep healthy, I need core exercise too, would crunches be dangerous on my back? I practice yoga every now and then too, but some days that'll irritate my back problem. Anyone have a bad back and still have a work out routine they'd wanna share? thanks.

[grasshoppa]

http://www.chikung-unlimited.com/Back-Exercise.html Do it.

[IWillBeLight]

thanks brother.

[Robot_Butler]

I had some lower back pain for a few months. I tried everything, from excercising it, to resting it, to stretching. Nothing worked. The pain was there as soon as I woke up in the morning. Sometimes, I could barely even bend over to turn on the shower faucet. Finally, I realized I was rolling onto my stomach in my sleep, compressing my back. I quit doing this, and the pain disappeared.

[ninja9578]

Your back is sore because you don't run enough. Almost every single person who I've helped with their running has complained of a sore back for the first week or two. Running puts more of a strain on your back muscles than most people realize, but don't worry, it's just the muscles and it's not dangerous. It's just a muscle soreness, like you feel in your legs. A great way to fix is is to sit on an exercise ball all day. If you have a desk job, or are a student doing homework at night, sit on a ball. The first couple of days, you back will ache like you won't believe because it's a muscle group that you don't get very much. Even though I'm a life long runner, I started sitting on a ball at work for 8 hours/day 5 days a week about 6 months ago, for the first two weeks I could barely make it, now I get no pain at all, even after 25 milers.

[grasshoppa]

Yes, I used to use an exercise ball for my comp chair. It was great, helped my posture which can get really bad when your gaming, you slowly hunch over and stuff. But the ball keeps your back in a good position. The link I posted above is showing an exercise which makes you're spine straight, and is not classified as proper posture. However, it improves abdominal breathing and can aid back pain.