Surface Electromyographic Analysis of Core Trunk and Hip Muscles During Selected Rehabilitation Exercises in the Side-Bridge to Neutral Spine Position

BACKGROUND: Strengthening of core hip, trunk, and abdominal muscles has been utilized with injury prevention and low back pain and has the potential to improve athletic performance. HYPOTHESIS: During a side-bridge, trunk and thigh muscles on the ipsilateral weightbearing side would produce greater activation than their counterparts on the contralateral nonweightbearing side. STUDY DESIGN: Descriptive laboratory study. METHODS: Twelve females and 13 males participated. Electromyography (EMG) signals were gathered for 5 right-sided muscles (rectus abdominis [RA], external oblique [EO], longissimus thoracis [LT], lumbar multifidus [LM], and gluteus medius [GM]) during 3 repetitions of 4 side-bridging exercises (trunk-elevated side support [TESS], foot-elevated side support [FESS], clamshell, and rotational side-bridge [RSB]) performed bilaterally in random order using surface electrodes. EMG signals were normalized to peak activity in maximum voluntary isometric contraction (MVIC) trials and expressed as a percentage. Descriptive EMG data were calculated for EMG recruitment (% MVIC) and compared between right side up and right side down conditions and between exercises with 2-way repeated-measures analyses of variance at α = 0.05. RESULTS: RSB created the most muscle activation in 3 of 4 recorded trunk muscles (RA, 43.9% MVIC; EO, 62.8 % MVIC; and LT, 41.3% MVIC). Activation of the GM exceeded 69% MVIC for TESS, FESS, and RSB. With the exception of the RA in RSB and LT in TESS, recruitment within muscles of the ipsilateral weightbearing trunk and thigh (% MVIC) was significantly greater than their counterparts on the nonweightbearing trunk and thigh for all muscles during the side-bridge exercise conditions. CONCLUSION: Muscle recruitment was greater within muscles of the ipsilateral weightbearing trunk and thigh for all examined muscles except RA during RSB and LT during TESS. Activation at or above 50% MVIC is needed for strengthening. Activation of the GM and EO meets these requirements. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Side-bridge exercises appear to provide strengthening benefits to core hip, trunk, and abdominal muscles on the ipsilateral weightbearing side.