Effects of changes in foot ground contact height and stability during front bridge on muscle activity

Abstract

Stability training is often carried out in the field of sports to improve performance. Appropriate loading is important in sports rehabilitation. Rehabilitation that ignores progressive characteristics can lead to a variety of reactions, including prolonged return to work and recurrence of injury. Therefore, it is desirable to objectively evaluate the load exerted by each training method. However, the degree of change in muscle activity in response to changes in foot ground contact height and stability when performing front bridge was unknown. Thirty-seven healthy subjects performed six different front bridges with varying foot height and instability. Muscle activity was measured and examined during implementation. Surface electromyography was used to measure the activity of the upper trapezius, lower trapezius, serratus anterior, rectus abdominis, external and internal abdominal oblique muscles, rectus femoris, and tibialis anterior. The rectus abdominis, external oblique abdominis, and internal oblique abdominis muscles showed significantly higher activity under conditions of instability of the foot ground contact surface. The upper trapezius, serratus anterior, external oblique abdominis, and tibialis anterior muscles showed significantly higher activity under conditions with a high foot ground contact surface. The upper trapezius, serratus anterior, external oblique abdominis, and tibialis anterior muscles required significantly higher muscle activity under high foot ground contact conditions. It was also suggested that the trunk muscles required significantly higher muscle activity under conditions where the foot ground contact surface was unstable.