Abstract
BackgroundThe addition of Swiss balls to conventional exercise programs has recently been adopted. Swiss balls are an unstable surface which may result in an increased need for force output from trunk muscles to provide adequate spinal stability or balance. The aim of the study was to determine whether the addition of a Swiss ball to upper body strength exercises results in consistent increases in trunk muscle activation levels.MethodsThe myoelectric activity of four trunk muscles was quantified during the performance of upper body resistance exercises while seated on both a stable (exercise bench) and labile (swiss ball) surface. Participants performed the supine chest press, shoulder press, lateral raise, biceps curl and overhead triceps extension. A repeated measures ANOVA with post-hoc Tukey test was used to determine the influence of seated surface type on muscle activity for each muscle.Results & DiscussionThere was no statistically significant (p < .05) difference in muscle activity between surface conditions. However, there was large degree of variability across subjects suggesting that some individuals respond differently to surface stability. These findings suggest that the incorporation of swiss balls instead of an exercise bench into upper body strength training regimes may not be justified based only on the belief that an increase spinal stabilizing musculature activity is inherent. Biomechanically justified ground based exercises have been researched and should form the basis for spinal stability training as preventative and therapeutic exercise training regimes.ConclusionSelected trunk muscle activity during certain upper limb strength training exercises is not consistently influenced by the replacement of an exercise bench with a swiss ball.
Highlights
The addition of Swiss balls to conventional exercise programs has recently been adopted
While previous work has documented the myoelectric activity of the trunk muscles during exercises designed to train the trunk muscles, no study has documented the effect of an unstable surface on trunk muscle activity during resistance exercises for the upper limbs
Safe exercises on stable ground have been advocated and thoroughly investigated with a Experimental Design A single factor repeated measures design was used to analyze the effect of trunk muscle activity during common weight training exercises on a Swiss ball compared to the trunk muscle activity found during the performance of the exercises on an exercise bench
Summary
The addition of Swiss balls to conventional exercise programs has recently been adopted. Swiss balls are an unstable surface which may result in an increased need for force output from trunk muscles to provide adequate spinal stability or balance. The aim of the study was to determine whether the addition of a Swiss ball to upper body strength exercises results in consistent increases in trunk muscle activation levels. Performing strength exercises on Swiss balls has been advocated on the belief that a labile surface will provide a greater challenge to the trunk musculature, increase the dynamic balance of the user and possibly train users to stabilize their spines to prevent and treat injury. The study found that while muscle activation in the primary movers was not different between surfaces, the amount of force generated was significantly less on a Swiss ball. These results were mirrored in a previous study [4] investigating force and muscle activation of the lower extremity on unstable surfaces
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