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Spinal Muscle Thickness and Activation during Abdominal Hollowing and Bracing in CrossFit(®) Athletes

Exercises that improve muscle activation are essential for maintaining spinal stability and preventing low back pain. The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of abdominal hollowing and bracing on the activation of the core muscles in CrossFit(®) participants using ultrasound and electro...

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Autores principales: Tsartsapakis, Ioannis, Pantazi, Georgia-Andriana, Konstantinidou, Agapi, Zafeiroudi, Aglaia, Kellis, Eleftherios
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10458255/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37624139
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/sports11080159
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author Tsartsapakis, Ioannis
Pantazi, Georgia-Andriana
Konstantinidou, Agapi
Zafeiroudi, Aglaia
Kellis, Eleftherios
author_facet Tsartsapakis, Ioannis
Pantazi, Georgia-Andriana
Konstantinidou, Agapi
Zafeiroudi, Aglaia
Kellis, Eleftherios
author_sort Tsartsapakis, Ioannis
collection PubMed
description Exercises that improve muscle activation are essential for maintaining spinal stability and preventing low back pain. The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of abdominal hollowing and bracing on the activation of the core muscles in CrossFit(®) participants using ultrasound and electromyography (EMG). Twenty-four healthy adults aged 21 to 42 years old with at least two years of CrossFit(®) experience performed three core stability exercises (plank, side plank, bridge) with abdominal hollowing and bracing. We measured the ultrasound relative thickness of the local core muscles (transversus abdominis, internal oblique, and lumbar multifidus), and the EMG percentage of maximal voluntary contraction (MVC) of the global core muscles (rectus abdominis, external oblique, and iliocostalis lumborum). Analysis of variance tests showed that the relative thickness of the local core muscles was greater (p = 0.016) during hollowing (range from 26.8 ± 5.33 to 88.4 ± 11.9% of rest) than bracing (range from 15.9 ± 3.54 to 61.2 ± 15.9% of rest), while the EMG of the global muscles was greater (p = 0.001) in bracing (range from 24.4 ± 7.30 to 72.5 ± 9.17% of MVC) than hollowing (range from 16.4 ± 3.70 to 56.6 ± 7.65% of MVC). These results indicate that the recruitment of spinal muscles during popular exercises is achieved with both hollowing and bracing. Nevertheless, it appears that hollowing tends to recruit more of the local muscles, whilst bracing recruits more of the global muscles. The grading of the exercises varied between muscles and varied between maneuvers, especially for the surface abdominals and lumbar muscles. CrossFit(®) practitioners can choose to use either hollowing or bracing to activate their core muscles more selectively or more appropriately, depending on the goal and purpose of the exercise.
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spelling pubmed-104582552023-08-27 Spinal Muscle Thickness and Activation during Abdominal Hollowing and Bracing in CrossFit(®) Athletes Tsartsapakis, Ioannis Pantazi, Georgia-Andriana Konstantinidou, Agapi Zafeiroudi, Aglaia Kellis, Eleftherios Sports (Basel) Article Exercises that improve muscle activation are essential for maintaining spinal stability and preventing low back pain. The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of abdominal hollowing and bracing on the activation of the core muscles in CrossFit(®) participants using ultrasound and electromyography (EMG). Twenty-four healthy adults aged 21 to 42 years old with at least two years of CrossFit(®) experience performed three core stability exercises (plank, side plank, bridge) with abdominal hollowing and bracing. We measured the ultrasound relative thickness of the local core muscles (transversus abdominis, internal oblique, and lumbar multifidus), and the EMG percentage of maximal voluntary contraction (MVC) of the global core muscles (rectus abdominis, external oblique, and iliocostalis lumborum). Analysis of variance tests showed that the relative thickness of the local core muscles was greater (p = 0.016) during hollowing (range from 26.8 ± 5.33 to 88.4 ± 11.9% of rest) than bracing (range from 15.9 ± 3.54 to 61.2 ± 15.9% of rest), while the EMG of the global muscles was greater (p = 0.001) in bracing (range from 24.4 ± 7.30 to 72.5 ± 9.17% of MVC) than hollowing (range from 16.4 ± 3.70 to 56.6 ± 7.65% of MVC). These results indicate that the recruitment of spinal muscles during popular exercises is achieved with both hollowing and bracing. Nevertheless, it appears that hollowing tends to recruit more of the local muscles, whilst bracing recruits more of the global muscles. The grading of the exercises varied between muscles and varied between maneuvers, especially for the surface abdominals and lumbar muscles. CrossFit(®) practitioners can choose to use either hollowing or bracing to activate their core muscles more selectively or more appropriately, depending on the goal and purpose of the exercise. MDPI 2023-08-18 /pmc/articles/PMC10458255/ /pubmed/37624139 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/sports11080159 Text en © 2023 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Tsartsapakis, Ioannis
Pantazi, Georgia-Andriana
Konstantinidou, Agapi
Zafeiroudi, Aglaia
Kellis, Eleftherios
Spinal Muscle Thickness and Activation during Abdominal Hollowing and Bracing in CrossFit(®) Athletes
title Spinal Muscle Thickness and Activation during Abdominal Hollowing and Bracing in CrossFit(®) Athletes
title_full Spinal Muscle Thickness and Activation during Abdominal Hollowing and Bracing in CrossFit(®) Athletes
title_fullStr Spinal Muscle Thickness and Activation during Abdominal Hollowing and Bracing in CrossFit(®) Athletes
title_full_unstemmed Spinal Muscle Thickness and Activation during Abdominal Hollowing and Bracing in CrossFit(®) Athletes
title_short Spinal Muscle Thickness and Activation during Abdominal Hollowing and Bracing in CrossFit(®) Athletes
title_sort spinal muscle thickness and activation during abdominal hollowing and bracing in crossfit(®) athletes
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10458255/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37624139
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/sports11080159
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