Affiliations: [a] Rehabilitation Sciences PhD Program, Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA | [b] Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Korea | [c] Department of Physical Therapy, Yeoju Institute of Technology, Yeoju-si, Gyeonggi-do, Korea
Correspondence:
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Corresponding authors: Yeon-Gyu Jeong, Department of Physical Therapy, Yeoju Institute of Technology, 338, Sejong-ro, Yeoju-si, 12652, Gyeonggi-do, Korea. Tel.: +82 10 5712 2525; E-mail: ygjeong@yit.ac.kr. Jung-Wan Koo, Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, 222 Banpo-Daero Seocho-gu, 06591, Seoul, Korea. Tel.: +82 2 2258 6268; E-mail: jwkoo@catholic.ac.kr.
Abstract: BACKGROUND: Individualized exercise programs based on personal impairment could lead to successful rehabilitation. An effective way to train spine stability is to find exercises that take advantage of the synergistic relation between local and global stabilization systems. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to investigate synergistic relationship between the muscles of the local and global systems during three modified side bridge exercises compared with traditional side bridge (TSB). METHODS: Twenty healthy participants performed TSB, both leg lift while side-lying (BLLS), torso lift on a 45∘ bench while side-lying (TLBS), and pelvic lift on side-lying (PLS) in random order. Surface electromyography data were analyzed. RESULTS: The results indicate that PLS was effective as TSB on trunk muscle activity. However, BLLS and TLBS demonstrated significantly less rectus abdominal (RA) muscle activity compared to TSB (p< .001). Additionally, BLLS and TLBS had a higher internal oblique (IO)/RA muscle activity ratio than TSB (p< .001). CONCLUSIONS: PLS could be a suitable alternative exercise for individuals who are unable to perform TSB, as it can effectively activate trunk muscles. BLLS and TLBS may be appropriate for training the local stability system, while limiting activation of the RA.
Keywords: Modified side bridge exercise, surface electromyography, muscle activity and ratio
