The two dozen muscles between your hips and shoulders do more than flex and stabilize. So to really hit your "core" you'll need to do more than just crunches. Try this.
The regular hanging leg raise works all the muscles of the midsection, hip flexors, lats, and grip. However, if you don't have adequate strength, endurance, or flexibility, your spine starts to curve and low back pain sets in, which is an issue. This exercise fixes those problems.