This Abs Exercise Caused My Daughter Back Pain

An ab exercise that is popular among many high school had given my daughter, now 28 years old back problems since she was a junior. In this exercise, the student-athlete lies on the ground with their hands behind their head, fingers laced. The student then raises legs to form a 90 degree angle to the body. At a specified time, the coach yelled drop, and the students drop their legs to about six inches from the floor. They then hold this position for as long as possible.

There are several problems with this exercise as I see it. First of all, there is no support for the back. Considerable strain is put upon the back during the rapid dropping of legs and when they are being held from the floor.

Second, this only works a very few of the abdomen muscles. Finally, the kids had no notice as to when the dropping of the legs was to take place. They were not prepared and I believe this added to the injuries.

My daughter was asked to do this exercise during soccer season. After the first day she began to experience back pain. It was several weeks before we were able to attribute the pain to this specific exercise.

If your child is asked to do an exercise such as this, I would strongly encourage you to have them not participate. Life long pain could result!