title: Innovative exercise device for the abdominal trunk muscles: An early validation study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Exercise is one of the few treatments that provide significant improvements in chronic low back pain (CLBP). We developed an innovative exercise device for abdominal trunk muscles. This device can be used in a sitting or standing position and contains a built-in system to measure abdominal trunk muscle strength. We examined whether subjects can adequately use the device to perform the exercises and measure their abdominal trunk muscle strength.
  
  
  METHODS
  We collected data on the body height, body weight, body mass index, and girth of 30 healthy male volunteers, and measured their grip power and trunk extensor muscle strength using a dynamometer. The volunteers performed a sit-up test as an indicator of trunk flexor muscle strength, and we measured their abdominal muscle strength using the device. We then evaluated the correlations between abdominal trunk muscle strength and anthropometric parameters as well as the strength of other muscles. In subsequent tests, 5 of the 30 subjects participated in two positron emission tomography (PET) series consisting of examinations after a resting period (control study) and during exercise (exercise study). For the exercise study, the subjects performed 2 sets of exercises for 20 minutes using the device before and after an injection of 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG). PET-computed tomography images were obtained 60 minutes after FDG injection in each study. We compared the skeletal muscle metabolism of the participants in both studies using the standardized uptake value.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The muscle strength measured by the device and the 30-second sit-up frequency were correlated. FDG accumulation within the diaphragm and abdominal rectus muscles was significantly higher in the exercise study.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our innovative exercise device facilitates a coordinated contraction of the abdominal trunk muscles at the anterior aspect and the roof of the core, and enables subjects to measure the strength of these muscles.
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Kanazawa University, 13-1 Takara-machi, Kanazawa, Japan.
authors.forename: Satoshi
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4762-5932
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kato
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Kanazawa University, 13-1 Takara-machi, Kanazawa, Japan.
authors.forename: Hideki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Murakami
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear Medicine/Biotracer Medicine, Kanazawa University, 13-1 Takara-machi, Kanazawa, Japan.
authors.forename: Anri
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Inaki
authors.affiliation: Kanazawa Advanced Medical Center, 13-1 Takara-machi, Kanazawa, Japan.
authors.forename: Takafumi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Mochizuki
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Kanazawa University, 13-1 Takara-machi, Kanazawa, Japan.
authors.forename: Satoru
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Demura
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Kanazawa University, 13-1 Takara-machi, Kanazawa, Japan.
authors.forename: Junsuke
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Nakase
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Kanazawa University, 13-1 Takara-machi, Kanazawa, Japan.
authors.forename: Katsuhito
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yoshioka
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Kanazawa University, 13-1 Takara-machi, Kanazawa, Japan.
authors.forename: Noriaki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Yokogawa
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Kanazawa University, 13-1 Takara-machi, Kanazawa, Japan.
authors.forename: Takashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Igarashi
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Kanazawa University, 13-1 Takara-machi, Kanazawa, Japan.
authors.forename: Naoki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Takahashi
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Kanazawa University, 13-1 Takara-machi, Kanazawa, Japan.
authors.forename: Noritaka
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Yonezawa
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear Medicine/Biotracer Medicine, Kanazawa University, 13-1 Takara-machi, Kanazawa, Japan.
authors.forename: Seigo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kinuya
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Kanazawa University, 13-1 Takara-machi, Kanazawa, Japan.
authors.forename: Hiroyuki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tsuchiya
mesh_terms: D000009:Abdominal Muscles / Q000502:physiology*; D000328:Adult; D005081:Exercise Therapy / Q000295:instrumentation*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009119:Muscle Contraction / Q000502:physiology; D053580:Muscle Strength; D055815:Young Adult