Muscular activation patterns during active prone hip extension exercises.
BACKGROUND
Changes in activation patterns of hip extensors and pelvic stabilizing muscles are recognized as factors that cause low back disorders and these disturbances could have an impact on the physiological loading and alter the direction and magnitude of joint reaction forces.


OBJECTIVE
To investigate activation patterns of the gluteus maximus, semitendinosus and erector spinae muscles with healthy young individuals during four different modalities of therapeutic exercise.


METHODS
Thirty-one volunteers were selected: (16 men and 15 women), age (24.5+/-3.47years), body mass of 66.89+/-11.89kg and a height of 1.70+/-0.09m). They performed four modalities of therapeutic exercise while the electromyographic activity of the investigated muscles was recorded to determine muscle pattern activation for each exercise.


RESULTS
Repeated measure ANOVA revealed that muscle activation patterns were similar for the four analyzed exercises, starting with the semitendinosus, followed by the erector spinae, and then, the gluteus maximus. The gluteus maximus was the last activated muscle during hip extension associated with knee flexion (p<0.0001), knee extension (p<0.0001), and with lateral rotation and knee flexion (p<0.05).


CONCLUSIONS
Findings of the present study suggested that despite individual variability, the muscle firing order was similar for the four therapeutic exercises.
Sakamoto
Ana Cristina Lamounier
AC
Department of Physical Therapy, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Avenida Antônio Carlos, 6627, Campus Pampulha, 31270-901 Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil.
Teixeira-Salmela
Luci Fuscaldi
LF
de Paula-Goulart
Fátima Rodrigues
FR
de Morais Faria
Christina Danielli Coelho
CD
Guimarães
Cristiano Queiroz
CQ
D000328:Adult; D001415:Back; D002081:Buttocks; D004576:Electromyography; D005081:Exercise Therapy; D005260:Female; D006621:Hip Joint / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007719:Knee Joint / Q000502:physiology; D008297:Male; D009119:Muscle Contraction; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000502:physiology*; D012815:Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted; D055815:Young Adult