One of my favorite questions for back pain patients always inevitably involves the question of crunches. Fox News recently discussed some contributors to low back pain and included crunches as one of them. They won some points for that one!
Crunches can definitely contribute to back pain and compression of the spine. I never use them for back patients because they have more potential for harm than to help. In addition, there are much better ways to strengthen weak abdominals. Crunches most often cause a c curve to the spine, increase spinal pressure and strengthen the hip flexors more than abdominals.
If a patient wants to strengthen abdominals, I vote for abdominal bracing and save the crunches for cereal or chocolate bars!
