ABSTRACT
Stabilization exercises lead to improve muscle performance and can be used to prevent and treat of low back pain. Aim of the present study is to evaluate and compare the level of abdominal and lumbar muscles activity during two types of stabilization exercises. Thirty healthy females aged between 20 - 30 years old participated in this quasi-experimental study. Muscle activity was recorded from Transversus Abdominus [TrA], Internal Oblique [IO] and multifidus on both sides with electromyography [EMG] device during the quadruped and dead bug exercises. EMG data were normalized to the percentage of maximum voluntary isometric contraction and paired t-test was used for statistical analysis. The mean muscle activity in the right arm reach of quadruped and dead bug exercises showed that right IO and TrA muscles produced greater activity during quadruped exercise [P = 0.015, P = 0.001, respectively]. The comparison between the mean muscles activity in the left leg reach of two exercises showed that right and left TrA muscles produced greater activity during left leg reach in quadruped exercise [P = 0.005, P = 0.046, respectively]. Also, the comparison between the mean muscle activity in simultaneous movements of left leg and right arm reach in the 2 exercises showed that right TrA muscle was activated at a higher level compared to the other muscles in the quadruped exercise [P = 0.002]. The results showed quadruped exercise can provide stability, coordination, and smoothness of the movements in healthy subjects and all considered muscles participated in this exercise
ABSTRACT
Background: At the present time, massage has become a popular therapy employed in complementary medicine. There is evidence showing that back massage might have many positive psychological effects, possibly due to having many autonomic nervous system afferent inputs. One of the frequent positions during massage is prone position. However, there has been limited research investigating the effect of back massage in the prone position on blood pressure [BP] and heart rate [HR]. The present study planned to investigate the changes of blood pressure and heart rate after back massage in prone position
Methods: Sixty-one healthy women were divided into two groups. Group one lay prone and was given a 15-minute massage while group two just lay prone for 15 minutes. Immediately prior to and after interventions, systolic and diastolic blood pressure and heart rate were measured in both groups. To assess within group differences, paired t-test was used. Independent t-test was also used to assess between group differences
Results: The results showed that systolic blood pressure decreased significantly after massage and also in the group only lying prone [P<0.05], with no significant difference between groups [P>0.05]. Changes of diastolic blood pressure and heart rate were not significant in either group
Conclusion: Massage and lying prone both can cause a decrease in systolic blood pressure. Massage was not seen to be more efficient than lying prone
ABSTRACT
Background: Heat therapy is one of the natural treatments that can affect the information transferred by the proprioceptive receptors. Heat has an effect on the conduction velocity of peripheral nerves, but the exact effect of two kinds of deep and superficial heat on the joint position sense is not known clearly. The present study aimed to compare the effect of deep and superficial heat on ankle joint position sense
Methods: Thirty healthy male students aged between 18 to 30 y/o participated in this study. Deep heat by short-wave diathermy and superficial heat by water of 42 [degree]C were applied for 15 minutes in two sessions for all participants. In all of the tests, active and passive ankle joint position sense in dorsiflexion and plantarflexion were measured by pedal goniometers prior to and after heat application. The Non-Parametric-Paired T-test Wilcoxon and Non-Parametric- Paired T-test Mann-Withney were used to analyze the data
Results: The superficial heat does not have any positive or negative effect on the ankle joint position sense. After the deep heat, the absolute angular error of active dorsiflexion was increased, but passive plantarflexion was decreased significantly. Comparing the two types of heat, the results revealed that the deep heat increased the absolute angular error of active dorsiflexion significantly more than superficial heat
Conclusion: According to the results, deep heat therapy improves passive ankle joint position sense in plantar flexion, but it worsens the active joint position sense of dorsiflexion. Therefore, it seems that after applying deep heat therapy on an ankle joint, exercise prescriptions need to be cautious
ABSTRACT
Background: Stabilization exercises can improve the performance of trunk and back muscles, which are effective in the prevention and treatment of low back pain. The four-point kneeling exercise is one of the most common types of stabilization exercises. This quasi-experimental study aimed to evaluate and compare the level of activation between abdominal and lumbar muscles in the different stages of the four-point kneeling exercise
Methods: The present study was conducted on 30 healthy women between 20 and 30 years old. Muscle activity was recorded bilaterally from transversus abdominis, internal oblique, and multifidus muscles with an electromyography [EMG] device during the different stages of the four-point kneeling exercise. All the collected EMG data were normalized to the percentage of maximum voluntary isometric contraction. The repeated measures ANOVA and paired t-test were used for the statistical analysis of the data
Results: A comparison between mean muscle activation in right arm extension and left leg extension showed that left internal oblique and left transverse abdominis muscles produced greater activation during left leg extension [P<0.05]. The comparison of mean muscle activation between right arm extension and the birddog position showed that, except for the right internal oblique, all the muscles produced higher activation in the bird-dog stage [P<0.05]. In comparison to the bird-dog stage, the left multifidus showed high activation during left leg extension [P<0.05]
Conclusion: The results of this study showed that the activity of all the above-mentioned muscles during quadruped exercise can provide stability, coordination, and smoothness of movements
ABSTRACT
Inversion sprain is a result of abnormal forces of plantar flexion and inversion applied to the lateral side of the ankle. This injury recurs in 10% of non-athletes and 80% of athletes. It is believed that Changes in conduction of deep peroneal nerve following inversion sprain and instability occurred following it, to be a cause of recurrence of inversion sprain. Evaluation of the motor branches of deep peroneal nerve in inversion sprain in non-athletes persons is the base of this study. Mechanical instability is assessed through anterior drawer test and talar tilt test and electrical assessment is done first and four weeks after injury in 11 patients in each mechanical instability group of the ankle. All patients had the first incidence of unilateral inversion sprain and normal side was considered as control in the same patient. Electrical assessment of deep peroneal nerve included following: [1] Deep peroneal nerve motor conduction studies in three levels of knee, leg and ankle, [2] Electrical evaluation of tibialis anterior muscle both at rest and minimal contraction. Studies revealed significant changes in temporal dispersion in three levels of knee, below the head of fibula and ankle and motor latency in knee and ankle levels both at the first and second evaluation and motor nerve conduction velocity in leg at the first session in two extremities but no significant difference between mechanical instability was noticed. Also there was a significant difference in recruitment interval of tibialis anterior muscle in comparison of normal and involved extremity and mechanical instability at both sessions. Findings of this study indicated that in lateral ankle sprain deep peroneal nerve incurs is happened and its prognosis is dependent on severity of nerve involvement and grade of instability