Gym ball exercise leads to recruitment and increased water content of the paraspinal muscles: An MRI pilot study

Abstract

Study design:

Cross-sectional pilot study on 24 healthy volunteers.

Objectives:

Investigate the value of stabilization exercises using a gym ball in paraspinal muscle activation by measuring changes in muscle signal intensity on MRI before and after exercise.

Background:

The gym ball is commonly used for rehabilitating spinal dysfunction. It is thought to rehabilitate some key muscle groups in the trunk.

Methods:

Twenty-four healthy volunteers (aged 21–50, 13 female and 11 male) had special sequence MR images of the lumbar spine showing an axial section of the paraspinal muscles at L4/5 level. Afterwards all were subjected to 10 minutes of exercise on the gym ball followed by repeat MRI scans immediately, 5 and 10 minutes post exercise. Changes in the mean signal intensity at the same region of interest in multifidus, erector spinae and psoas muscles were evaluated using MRI software.

Results:

The mean signal intensity in the MR images of the same region in the multifidus (P < 0.03) and erector spinae (P < 0.005) muscles significantly increased after gym ball exercise. There was no statistically significant change in the signal intensity of the psoas muscle (P < 0.086).

Conclusions:

The multifidus and erector spinae muscles of a healthy individual can be activated by performing certain exercises on the gym ball.