Why do leg raises make my head hurt?

< not a doctor…
Assuming you’re laying on your back when you do the exercise, my first guess would be it raises your blood pressure, which gives you a headache. Either that, or somehow it pinches a nerve in your spine which shows up as a headache.

My first thought was to recommend that you have your blood pressure checked.

I’m not a doctor. I would check my blood pressure immediately after the exercise as suggested above, and check it in general. I also agree maybe a nerve thing.

Don’t do leg raises, the risk of causing more damage than good isn’t worth it. Try a different exercise for abdominals.

Blood rushing to your head from raising your legs above head level. Try not raising your legs so high.

I agree, my initial thought is blood pressure, also. Every time I check my blood pressure though it’s under 120/80 (not by much, it’s usually around 109/70).

I’m glad someone mentioned something about a pinched nerve; just set a light bulb off in my head. Thanks so much!

Just to clarify the damage I mentioned has to do with straining back muscles. Google and read up on leg raises, a lot of atheletes don’t recommend them.

Check your breathing and form on the exercise.

Just in case anyone wanted an update on this; had surgery for endometriosis and the surgeon cut adhesions that had a whole lot of intestines (including my appendix) stuck to my pelvic region. Issue aforementioned is gone. I guess yankin’ your organs out of place can have some not-so-pleasant side effects :P

@PriceisRightx26 Wow holy shit. That is intense.

I just googled endometriosis. I would have never guessed or knew it was female only.

@LDRSHIP It’s actually not female only, but the overwhelming majority of readily available information on endo is rather inaccurate. The disease has actually been found in men and fetuses, but since mainstream medicine claims that it’s a “period problem,” it’s almost always overlooked (unfortunately, even in women).