Abstract
Purpose
Abdominal hollowing exercise has been recommended to improve trunk stability. Trunk lean and foot lift exercises while sitting may easily promote abdominal muscle activity even in people who cannot perform abdominal hollowing consciously. The purpose of the present study was to examine the changes in abdominal muscle activity and contribution rate of the transversus abdominis muscle (TrA) when leaning the trunk and lifting the foot during sitting.
Methods
The muscle stiffnesses (indicators of muscle activity) of the right rectus abdominis, external oblique, internal oblique, and TrA of 14 healthy men were measured during abdominal hollowing and the following nine sitting tasks: reference posture, 15° and maximal posterior trunk lean, 20° and maximal ipsilateral and contralateral trunk lean, and ipsilateral and contralateral foot lift. The TrA contribution rate was calculated by dividing the TrA stiffness by the sum of the abdominal muscles’ stiffnesses.
Results
The TrA stiffness was significantly higher in abdominal hollowing than in reference posture, posterior and ipsilateral trunk lean, and ipsilateral foot lift, but not higher than in contralateral trunk lean and contralateral foot lift. There was no significant difference in the TrA contribution rates between abdominal hollowing and ipsilateral or contralateral foot lift.
Conclusion
The contralateral trunk lean or contralateral foot lift could enhance TrA activity for people who cannot perform abdominal hollowing consciously. The contralateral foot lift could particularly be beneficial to obtain selective activity of TrA.
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Abbreviations
- TrA:
-
Transversus abdominis muscle
- ANOVA:
-
Analysis of variance
- SWE:
-
Shear wave elastography
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The authors gratefully acknowledge all participants involved in this study. This study was not funded by any institutions, agencies, or companies.
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YM, HT, SN, and NI conceived and designed the research. YM, TK, and YY conducted the experiments. YM, HT, and NI analyzed the data. YM, HT, SN, and NI wrote the manuscript. All the authors have read and approved the manuscript.
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Motomura, Y., Tateuchi, H., Komamura, T. et al. Effects of trunk lean and foot lift exercises in sitting position on abdominal muscle activity and the contribution rate of transversus abdominis. Eur J Appl Physiol 121, 173–181 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-020-04508-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-020-04508-0