Article

For patients with scoliosis, core stabilization exercises may be beneficial in
improving muscle strength and trunk dynamic control. However, few studies have
examined whether the erector spinae (ES) activation status during unilateral
spinal extensor strengthening meets the guideline for patients with spinal
scoliosis. To determine ES activation and whether unilateral selectivity shows a
significant difference in the three designated exercises, we recorded the ES
activity of 20 university students during these exercises. All participants had
normal spinal flexibility without a history of, or current, spinal disease. The
three stabilization exercise movements were quadruped, prone, and modified prone.
We detected the activation level of bilateral ES using electromyography and
normalized it with the maximum voluntary contraction. We determined unilateral
selectivity by the ratio of the activation level between active and nonactive ES.
The results showed that the modified prone movement caused the greatest muscle
activity up to 41.6% of maximum voluntary contraction among other muscles
(P<0.05). The quadruped and modified prone movements showed greater differences
in bilateral sides (P<0.05) with a unilateral selectivity of 1.72 and 1.67,
respectively. However, there was no significant difference in unilateral
selectivity between quadruped and modified prone movements. Quadruped movement
may be more suitable than the other two only for unilateral back extensor
training. Nevertheless, for improvement in muscle strength, modified prone
movement could also be considered.

Langue : ANGLAIS