Reason For Neck Pain While Performing Crunches

Most of the people do a crunch from the upper body rather than abdominal region, which works your neck muscles—and not according to your desired way" explains Joel D., owner of Advanced Human Performance in Atlanta.

Consider your spine like a noodle: It can bend back, forth, and around, but the structure remains linked together in one fluid line at all times. The exception to this is your cervical spine, which is the upper portion that runs from your shoulders up into your head. Besides being physically connected, your skull has the ability to move independently from the rest of the noodle.

If done properly, crunches will maintain your spine in line from the bottom of the back to head. But if you allow your head lag, you're leaving your neck vulnerable to a strain. "Think each disc in between your vertebrae as a jelly doughnut," says McCall. "If your head is jutting forward, it puts a lot of pressure on the front and squishes jelly out the back." Best case, this little compression will result in the mild discomfort that'll keep you from churning out enough repetitions to ever actually see abdominals in the mirror. But with more pressure, this improper form can result in a bulging disc, which leads to serious pain, numbness, and muscle weakness.

A huge number of studies have shown that simply pushing your chin toward your chest before and while performing a crunch can minimize the muscle activity in your neck. It’s because, it activates the hyoid muscles—which run from your chin to your collarbone—to act as stabilizers, says McCall.

Try it: Visualize keeping a peach between your head and your throat, McCall recommends. If you don't squeeze, you won’t able to hold it for long, but the excessive pressure will squish the fruit, releasing juice everywhere.

Then, rather than putting your hands behind your head for performing the crunch which motivates you to pull on the head and create further strain, keeps your hands on your forehead. Or you could ditch the crunches altogether and opt for these 18 ab exercises for a flat, toned belly.

You may also desire to pull your lower back and stomach into the floor, says Seedman, as this experiences a little posterior pelvic tilt, maintaining the upper spine from being able to move freely. And crunch up really slowly. "People mostly think in a crunch, they have to get their torso off the ground in this huge motion. But it should be kept really be a small, compact movement," he explains. Don’t forget, your goal is to engage the abs, not to bring your shoulder and head up. If you take the momentum out and glue your lumbar spine to the mat, it activates the signals to your nervous system to create contractions in your core, actually working your abdominal muscles in such a way that enables you to get stronger and keeps you pain-free.

Most of the beginners in the gyms near me are performing crunches in a wrong way by just pushing their neck towards their core instead of engaging their core and focusing their abs.