[brian/kyla]

ok my girlfriend was in a car accident almost 4 years ago she has a crushed vertibre, along with that she has 2 14inch steel rods in her back and 17 screw,along with this she also have very little left of her abdominal wall i.e. no abs she had to have wat was left of the muscle streched to keep her close. now that i has been four years she is starting to gain upper body weight and she want to know wat excercises we can do to keep her upper body in shape with tearing her stomach muscles or hurting her back.

[AndrewB]

Well.. since your volunteering yourself, then you can do what therapist and trainers call "towel sit ups"/crunches. you get on the bed/floor and simply hold a towel for her to pull up and assist herself in doing a sit up using as much of her abs she can each time.. i find when i'm giving any kind of instruction it's good to remind the person your helping as to what muscles they are using, or need to be using.

[Karl187]

I was trying to repair my own ab muscles in hospital too, and the physio recommended some gentle exercise on an ab trainer. It worked for a while, but it wasn't enough so I started using free weights, but it would be something to consider if your just starting out.