Immediate changes in chest mobility and trunk muscle activity during pelvic tilt following different trunk muscle exercises

Abstract

BACKGROUND:

Given the characteristics of the superficial trunk muscles that cross the chest and pelvis, their excessive contraction might limit chest mobility.

OBJECTIVE:

To examine the immediate effects of two types of trunk muscle exercises on chest mobility and trunk muscle activities.

METHODS:

Fourteen healthy men (age: 21.1 $\pm$ 1.0 years, height: 172.7 $\pm$ 5.6 cm, weight: 61.0 $\pm$ 7.1 kg, body mass index: 20.4 $\pm$ 1.7 kg/m ${}^2$ ; mean $\pm$ SD) randomly performed trunk side flexion and draw-in exercises using a cross-over design. The chest kinematic data and trunk muscle activities were measured before and after each intervention during the following tasks: maximum inspiration/expiration and maximum pelvic anterior/posterior tilt while standing. Two-way repeated measures analysis of variance was used for statistical analysis ( $P<$ 0.05).

RESULTS:

After the side flexion, upper and lower chest mobility significantly decreased, and superficial trunk muscle activity significantly increased during the maximum pelvic anterior tilt ( $P<$ 0.05). Additionally, after the draw-in, upper chest mobility significantly increased during the maximum pelvic anterior tilt ( $P<$ 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS:

Increased activity of the superficial abdominal muscles might limit chest mobility during maximum pelvic anterior tilt. Conversely, the facilitation of deep trunk muscles might increase upper chest mobility during the maximum pelvic anterior tilt.