Effect of disturbance instruction against lateral floor transition on muscle activity of lower limb muscles

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of disturbance instruction against lateral floor transition on muscle activity of lower limb muscles. The study included 13 young healthy adult males. The resting muscle activity before thedisturbance (%IEMG-rest), maximum muscle activity after the disturbance (%IEMG-max), and muscle reaction time of the lower limb muscles in the condition with and without disturbance instruction of moving the floor to the right side were measured. %IEMG-max showed significantly higher muscle activity in the left gluteus medius, right tibialis anterior, and right peroneus longus in the condition with the instruction than that in the condition without the instruction in the first trail. Regarding the muscle reaction time, theleftgluteusmedius, left adductor longus and right peroneus longus started activity significantly earlier in the condition with the instruction than that in the condition without the instruction. For any of the muscles, no difference was observed in %IEMG-rest between the conditions. These results indicate that, in young healthy subjects, %IEMG-max that control posture in response to disturbance increased by the disturbance instruction, and the muscle reaction time is earlier.