Question:
I am in good health but with a recent history of lower back problems. I've begun doing physical therapy exercises to combat this and have been successful in strengthening my legs and gaining flexibility through stretching. One thing I've been unable to do and realize is very important for lower back problems is strengthen my abdominal muscles. Every time I try to do abdominal exercises I experience resultant pain and stiffness in my neck and upper shoulders (trapezius muscles?) for a day or two.

This is true especially if I do sit-ups or crunches (no matter how I do them) but is also the case even if I only do exercises seemingly unrelated to the neck such as leg lifts or pelvic tilts with weights. Does this make any sense? Has anyone else experienced this? Will it go away after I've done the exercises for awhile and strengthened my abs sufficiently?

Answer:

I rarely recommend this, but have you tried an ab roller? Some folks find that it takes away much of the discomfort. Another tip is to look up at the ceiling, not forward, as you crunch. You may be inadvertently pulling your neck with your hands as you crunch, or unwittingly tensing up the area.

Lower tech & cheaper & better version of ab roller

- Take a cheap small towel and roll it up.
- Grasp towel in each hand and place towel behind the head thus
you can support head with your hands while doing crunches.
This is BETTER then ab-roller for neck pain because it fits more people and because it's obviously cheaper.

Try the neck stretching exercises in "Active-Isolated Stretching" by the wharton's; Check it out on www.amazon.com. I do 7 separate stretches for my neck. However, I don't need to hold most of the stretches for a long time to keep my neck "unstiff". left/right and left/right & front combos I hold longer because muscles are much stronger in those directions.

---

---