Electromyographic assessment of trunk and shoulder muscles during a Pilates pull-up exercise

Isabel C.N Sacco,Eduardo T.T Mori,Nadia Marconi,Bergson C Queiroz,Ivye L R Pereira

doi:10.1590/s1980-65742014000200011

Abstract

This study compares surface electromyographic activity of the internal oblique, rectus abdominis, multifidus, iliocostalis, anterior deltoids during the pull-up on a lower and on a higher difficulty level. We assessed nine adults with previous experience in Pilates. The root mean square (RMS) values were normalized by maximum isometric contraction for each participant. During the ascent phase, the low spring position showed a significantly higher RMS than the high spring position of 8.9% for deltoid, 17.2% for internal oblique, 22.3% for rectus abdominis, 4.1% for iliocostalis, and 5.6% for multifidus, and in the descent phase, the RMS in the lower spring exceeded significantly the high spring position in 1.6% for the deltoid, 10% for internal oblique, 31.4% for rectus abdominis and 11.4% for iliocostalis. There was no predominance of abdominal muscles over the shoulder muscle in any spring position. The pull-up exercise can be a useful choice for the core and anterior deltoid muscles strengthening.

Highlights

The Pilates method was created by Joseph Pilates and consists of stretching, strengthening, and proprioception exercises with the entire attention of practitioners focused on muscle control, posture, and breathing (Johnson, Larsen, Ozawa, Wilson, & Kennedy, 2006; Muscolino & Cipriani, 2004a; Stolze et al, 2012; Wells, Kolt, & Bialocerkowski, 2012)
In the ascent phase with the low spring position, which provided less assistance (150 N on the starting position), we observed greater EMG activity of all assessed muscles compared to the high spring position, and in the descent phase, anterior deltoid, internal oblique, and rectus abdominis and iliocostalis showed greater activation compared to the high spring position
The results not completely confirmed the second hypothesis that the trunk muscles would activate predominantly over shoulder muscles since the anterior deltoid showed higher activity than rectus abdominis and iliocostalis in the descent phase on the high spring position

Summary

Introduction

The Pilates method was created by Joseph Pilates and consists of stretching, strengthening, and proprioception exercises with the entire attention of practitioners focused on muscle control, posture, and breathing (Johnson, Larsen, Ozawa, Wilson, & Kennedy, 2006; Muscolino & Cipriani, 2004a; Stolze et al, 2012; Wells, Kolt, & Bialocerkowski, 2012). Pilates method has been considered as an important tool for rehabilitation and injury prevention (Anderson & Spector, 2000, Lim, Poh, Low, & Wong, 2012) and has been the subject of recent trends in Brazilian scientific investigations (Bertolla, Baroni, Leal Junior, & Oltramari, 2007; Queiroz et al, 2010; Rocha-e-Silva, 2009; Sacco et al, 2005) Trunk flexion exercises, such as the pull-up, may compromise the ability of the lumbar extensor muscles to bear the shear forces on the lumbar column. In one more physiological sense the “Pilates’ core stabilization” is related to coordinated and simultaneous activation of the trunk and hip muscles, which is associated to reduction the risk of disc injury (Lim et al, 2012; Van Dieen, Cholewicki, & Radebold, 2003; Wong, Leong, Chan, Luk, & Lu, 2004)

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