Adequate knowledge of trunk muscles is useful to provide the best possible treatment of low back pain, as well as for improvement of athletic performance. Thus, trunk muscle exercises are commonly performed and taught on the athletic field.

Muscle function in the neutral zone is important for trunk stabilization. Trunk muscles are classified into a local and a global muscle system. The local muscle system includes deeper muscles with their points of origin or insertion directly or indirectly on the lumbar vertebrae such as the transversus abdominis and the lumbar multifidus. The global muscle system includes muscles that are not directly attached to the lumbar vertebrae, such as the rectus abdominis and the external oblique muscles. Local muscles play a key role in trunk stability and postural responses. Hodges and Richardson reported that the onset of the transversus abdominis is earlier than that of agonist muscles (early activity) during upper limb movement. Moreover, local muscles are partially activated through low-load tasks and postural control such as with walking (tonic activity). In contrast, high-load movements such as running and jumping lead to co-activation of local and global muscles (phasic activity). Adequate training to achieve motor control of the local muscles using specific exercises is important to enhance optimal activation of trunk muscles during various movements. Therefore, I explain progressive trunk muscle training with electromyographic data from motor control exercise to bridge exercises and co-contraction of the trunk muscles along myofascial line.

Many studies investigated the effects of core stability training on athletic performance. Some recent systematic reviews revealed that core stability training provides marginal benefits to athletic performance. However, further research is necessary to better understand how trunk stability and stability affect athletic performance.

There is no clinical evaluation of lumbar and trunk functions that can reveal all the trunk functions in one evaluation. Therefor you have to understand the clinical evaluations assessment of lumbar and trunk functions of athletes. This paper introduced clinical evaluations of lumbar and trunk functions. The contents are movement evaluation (active movement, thoracic alignment evaluation during extension), spinal segmental mobility, trunk function evaluation (Manual Muscle Test), trunk endurance, Sharmann core stability test, and motor control. When used clinically, it is important to understand the pathology of low back pain of the athlete and evaluate the dysfunction. In addition, if medical rehabilitation is insufficient, the next stage of athletic training often does not proceed as expected. So it is recommended to improve the function of the trunk at the stage of medical rehabilitation.

Low back pain is one of the most common disorders for athletes. In the field of athletic training, various theories and methods of core stabilization exercises have been produced and verified whether it is effective for prevention of low back disorders and performance improvement. In this article, author reviewed clinical and scientific evidence about prevention of low back disorders for athletes. In the fact, there are few reports of well-designed research about the pain prevention of low back in the study of athletes. Although the evidence is low, some reports showed that re-education of deep trunk muscles (such as transversus abdominis and multifidus, etc.) and motor control training are effective in preventing the worsening or recurrence of low back pain in athletes. In the future, high-quality research is needed to verify both performance improvement and low back disorders prevention.

The diaphragm has been long-known as main gas exchange muscle for survival. However it has been revealed that breathing has many functions other than gas exchange, such as spinal decompression, postural stability, fluid dynamics, visceral health, and emotional regulation. For increasing attention to the core stability along with respiration, this article will review the fundamental structure and core stability function of the diaphragm as well as the recent research for low back pain. Then based on the diaphragmatic contribution to the core stability and low back pain, this article will discuss possibility of breathing exercises to normalize diaphragmatic position and function.

本研究では，大学女子アスリートの気分・感情がスポーツ外傷・障害の発生にどのような影響を及ぼすかを検証した．また，これらに指導者の交代や学年が上がるなどの環境の変化がどのような影響を及ぼすかについても検討した．そのため，大学女子バレーボール選手24名を対象に日本語版POMS短縮版を2018年2月末から3月末までに4回，指導者が交代し，学年が上がった同年4月上旬から6月末までに5回実施し，そこから得られた186例の回答を分析対象とした．その結果，緊張−不安，抑うつ−落ち込み，混乱の高まりと，スポーツ傷害の発生に関連があることが示唆された．また，指導者の交代や学年が上がるタイミングを境に緊張−不安，混乱が高まることが推察された．トレーナーにはアスリートに対する心理的な支援も求められるため，日頃から気分・感情を表出しやすい関係作りに務めることが必要であると考えられた．

本研究の目的は，競技特異的状況下での反応動作に関わる認知機能を検討することである．異なる属性のサッカー選手を対象とし，サッカー競技に特異的な映像課題に対する反応動作を行い，その動作開始までの時間を比較するとともに，反応時の思考を問うアンケート調査も行った．結果より，反応動作開始までの時間は，課題難易度が高いほど遅延すること，および課題動作ごとに属性によっては反応動作開始までの時間に遅延や短縮が起こることがわかった．これにより，競技特異的状況下での反応動作に関わる認知においては，局面ごとの動作や位置関係に対する理解といった局面特異的な経験値が関与する可能性が示唆された．

皮下脂肪厚計測はコンディショニングのモニタリング指標として有用であるかを検討した．大学ラグビープレーヤーを対象に，プレシーズンに水中体重秤量法計測と皮下脂肪厚計測を実施し，その結果を踏まえてレジスタンストレーニング方法を変更した．ポストシーズンではトレーニング方法変更部位の皮下脂肪に有意な減少が認められた．皮下脂肪厚計測はコンディショニングでのモニタリング指標として有用である可能性が示唆された．