Comparison of Abdominal and Lumbar Muscles Electromyography Activity During Two Types of Stabilization Exercises

Background: Stabilization exercises lead to improve muscle performance and can be used to prevent and treat of low back pain. Objectives: Aim of the present study is to evaluate and compare the level of abdominal and lumbar muscles activity during two types of stabilization exercises. Patients and Methods: Thirty healthy females aged between 20 - 30 years old participated in this quasi-experimental study. Muscle activity was recorded from Transversus Abdominus (TrA), Internal Oblique (IO) and multifidus on both sides with electromyography (EMG) device during the quadruped and dead bug exercises. EMG data were normalized to the percentage of maximum voluntary isometric contraction and paired t-test was used for statistical analysis. Results: The mean muscle activity in the right arm reach of quadruped and dead bug exercises showed that right IO and TrA muscles produced greater activity during quadruped exercise (P = 0.015, P = 0.001, respectively). The comparison between the mean muscles activity in the left leg reach of two exercises showed that right and left TrA muscles produced greater activity during left leg reach in quadruped exercise (P = 0.005, P = 0.046, respectively). Also, the comparison between the mean muscle activity in simultaneous movements of left leg and right arm reach in the 2 exercises showed that right TrA muscle was activated at a higher level compared to the other muscles in the quadruped exercise (P = 0.002). Conclusions: The results showed quadruped exercise can provide stability, coordination, and smoothness of the movements in healthy subjects and all considered muscles participated in this exercise.