Electromyographic Activities of Cervical Muscles While Using an Oscillating Blade Held in the Mouth: Influence of Different Swings

Abstract

Background: Neck pain is one of the most prevalent musculoskeletal conditions. Manual mobilization plus exercise are recommended for treating people with acute neck pain with movement coordination impairments. Therefore, it is important to consider a safe and effective coordination exercise for the cervical muscles. Using an oscillating device by holding it in the mouth might be a type of coordination exercise for the cervical muscles. Objectives: This study aimed to compare the activities of the cervical muscles while using an oscillating blade held in the mouth with different swings. Methods: Ten healthy male university students participated in this study (20.8 ± 0.9 years). The activities of the sternocleidomastoid and cervical extensor muscles were measured using electromyography while using an oscillating blade held in the mouth in horizontal orientation (up-down oscillation). Participants were asked to oscillate the device in one of the following swings: Cervical flexion-extension and knee flexion-extension. Both exercises were performed in a standing position. All EMG activities were normalized by EMG activities during maximum voluntary contractions of those muscles. Results: The activities of the sternocleidomastoid with knee flexion-extension (5.7 ± 4.8 %) present significantly lower muscle activities (P = 0.011) than those with cervical flexion-extension (12.2 ± 8.6%). The activities of the cervical extensor muscles with knee flexion-extension (10.7 ± 6.5%) present significantly lower muscle activities (P < 0.001) than those with cervical flexion-extension (17.5 ± 10.3%). Conclusions: The results of this study indicated that the exercise with knee flexion-extension had lower load for the cervical muscles than that with cervical flexionextension. The findings of this study could be basic information for grading intensity of cervical coordination exercise using an oscillating blade held in the mouth.