title: The Effect of Distractive Function on Volitional Preemptive Abdominal Contraction During a Loaded Forward Reach in Normal Subjects.
abstract: Volitional preemptive abdominal contraction (VPAC) is used to protect the spine and prevent injury. No published studies to data have examined the effect of distraction on VPAC use during function.
  
  
  
  To examine the effect of an auditory distraction ("Stroop task") on healthy subjects' ability to sustain VPAC by use of the abdominal drawing-in maneuver during loaded forward reach.
  
  
  
  Within-subjects, repeated-measure cohort design.
  
  
  
  Clinical laboratory setting.
  
  
  
  Convenience sample of 42 healthy individuals (ages 20-57 years).
  
  
  
  Transversus abdominis (TrA) thickness was measured with M-mode ultrasound imaging. Each subject performed Stroop versus no Stroop during 4 conditions: (1) without VPAC, quiet standing; (2) with VPAC, quiet standing; (3) without VPAC, forward reach; and (4) with VPAC, forward reach. An investigator blinded to the conditions measured the first 10 subjects to establish intratester reliability of probe/transducer placement and TrA measurement.
  
  
  
  TrA thickness (mm) change represented VPAC performance. A single investigator measured onscreen TrA thickness twice at each second from second-6 through -10 on a recorded ultrasound imaging sequence.
  
  
  
  A 2 (Stroop) × 4 (Activity) repeated-measures analysis of variance found no significant Stroop × Activity interaction [F(3, 93) = 0.345, P = .793] and no main effect for Stroop [F (1,31) = 1.324, P = .259] but found a significant main effect for activity [F (3,93) = 17.729, P < .001]. Tukey post-hoc pairwise comparisons demonstrated significant differences between VPAC versus no-VPAC conditions, except between quiet standing/yes-VPAC and loaded forward reach/no-VPAC conditions (P = .051). The interclass correlation coefficient (3,2) for probe/transducer placement reliability was 0.87, 0.91, 0.92, and 0.93 for conditions 1-4, respectively. The interclass correlation coefficient (3,2) for TrA measurement reliability was 0.96, 0.99, 0.99, and 0.99 for conditions 1-4, respectively.
  
  
  
  A distracting executive function (Stroop task) did not produce a significant negative impact on normal individuals' ability to sustain a VPAC during quiet standing or loaded forward reach activities.
  
  
  
  II.
authors.affiliation: Center for Rehabilitation Research, School of Allied Health Sciences, TTUHSC, Lubbock, TX.
authors.forename: Marwan A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Kublawi
authors.affiliation: Center for Rehabilitation Research, School of Allied Health Sciences, TTUHSC, Lubbock, TX.
authors.forename: Troy L
authors.initials: TL
authors.lastname: Hooper
authors.affiliation: Center for Rehabilitation Research, School of Allied Health Sciences, TTUHSC, Lubbock, TX.
authors.forename: Vittal R
authors.initials: VR
authors.lastname: Nagar
authors.affiliation: Center for Rehabilitation Research, School of Allied Health Sciences, TTUHSC, Lubbock, TX.
authors.forename: Mark P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Wilhelm
authors.affiliation: Center for Rehabilitation Research, School of Allied Health Sciences, TTUHSC, Lubbock, TX.
authors.forename: Kevin L
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Browne
authors.affiliation: Center for Rehabilitation Research, School of Allied Health Sciences, TTUHSC, Lubbock, TX.
authors.forename: Jean-Michel
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Brismée
authors.affiliation: Center for Rehabilitation Research, School of Allied Health Sciences, TTUHSC, 3601 4th St., Room 2B 138 - Mail Stop 6226, Lubbock, TX 79430.
authors.forename: Phillip S
authors.initials: PS
authors.lastname: Sizer
mesh_terms: D000005:Abdomen; D000009:Abdominal Muscles; D000328:Adult; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009119:Muscle Contraction; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D014836:Volition; D055815:Young Adult