crunches and my back?

As of recently I have been working out my abs by doing crunches about 10 minutes a day. However, what I am noticing is that after about 4 minutes of doing them my back starts to hurt. I usually just power through the pain but there is always something back in my head telling me that I am permanently hurting my back. Should I just continue to power through the back pain (muscle pain not bone pain)? or should I stop?

kcmarie20072009-05-01T20:03:06Z

i recently have been doing the same thing and noticed that i have pain in my back as well, i usually try to rest a while and then start the crunches again until i can't do ne more but my advice to you is that maybe you should cut your time in half to 5 mins instead of ten or if ur back hurts too bad take a break from doin the crunches for a few days and take a pain reliever

opinionatedmedic2009-05-01T20:11:12Z

I wouldnt do it if it actually could injure your back. Try planks instead.

Anonymous2009-05-01T20:00:17Z

old age lol