Can anyone help. My wife is having lower back pain:cry: during crunches...with the ball or on the floor or board. It may be technique, but I can't help her...she's getting frustrated:bang: .

Jarrod

Well, it would help to know exactly what kind of pain, where and when, but she shouldn't be having ANY - ANY ANY - back pain during a crunch.

she needs to lay flat on the floor, knees bent, and then press her lower back to the floor. It should be touching it.

During the crunch, she needs to make sure she is conciously pushing her lower back flat against the floor the entire time, breathing out on the lift, and inhaling on the lower. She shouldn't be pulling on her head or neck, her chin should not be tucked to her chest. And her feet shouldn't leave the grond (on a normal crunch.)

Take her off of the ball for right now. I am an advocate of doing crunches on the ball, but not when there is pain or a technique problem.
If she can do a couple crunches life this without back pain, that's great.

If she develops back pain after a few crunches - something has changed. Her form must be different. It may help you to observe and have her report with each crunch whether she felt pain or not. She should always be concentrating on her form and using her core/ab muscles.

If she has pain on the very first one, and you can see no form issues, she may have pulled something, and she needs to back off of them until she is healed, then try it.

If this continues, she should probably visit a doctor to figure out what is going on.

A question: If she goes into plank (the top position of a push up - in the correct form, no arching or sway in the back, just like a strong plank of wood) and holds it, does it hurt as well?

What about cobra? (this shows what that looks like http://www.yoga-software.com/CP_pages/News/2004_11_12/gpPREG1050.jpg)

If she has pain on the very first one, and you can see no form issues, she may have pulled something, and she needs to back off of them until she is healed, then try it.

If this continues, she should probably visit a doctor to figure out what is going on.

A question: If she goes into plank (the top position of a push up - in the correct form, no arching or sway in the back, just like a strong plank of wood) and holds it, does it hurt as well?

What about cobra? (this shows what that looks like http://www.yoga-software.com/CP_pages/News/2004_11_12/gpPREG1050.jpg)

Thanks Savy, I'll talk to her about these things and show her this post. As far as the plank...she feels no pain.
I'll have her try the Cobra position later tonight and see what happens. If any thing changes, I'll bump this thread to get more attention.

Thanks again,

Jman