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If you have access to a pool, there's a great water exercise to strengthen your core without putting stress on your neck or spine.
Push off on your back with your arms held together over your head, instead of doing a flutter kick, do a dolphin kick. The movement is basically an undulation or camel that you let continue through your legs. (It ripples through the hips/knees/ankles the same way snake arms ripple through shoulder/elbow/wrist) Concentrate to power the movement by moving your hips with your abdominal muscles, not by just kicking from the knee. The water applies resistance against your hip movement, which makes your abdominals work harder. In addition, the obliques and other smaller core muscles engage to keep your movement symmetrical, and keep you level in the water.
It works as well or better than crunches and other "land" exercises, but the water supports your neck. Oddly enough it works much better on your back than it does when you dolphin kick face down. I think it's because you're up on the surface when you're on your back, so you have to push harder into the water.
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