Use of Motor Imagery Enhances Vastus Medialis Obliquus Muscle Recruitment Amplitudes During Closed Kinetic Chain Squat Exercises

Abstract

ABSTRACT: The purpose of this study was to examine whether the use of motor imagery during the performance of a simple exercise results in increased recruitment in the actively contracting muscles. Sixteen female participants were randomly assigned to an imagery group (n = 8) or a control group (n = 8). Participants performed 3 repetitions of 2 exercises (squats and plies). Although there were no significant differences in vastus medialis obliquus (VMO) muscle activation (electromyography [EMG]) amplitudes between the imagery and control groups, there was a clear trend toward higher EMG amplitudes in the imagery group compared with the control group for the left VMO, which was attributed to the imagery group partici-pants directing their imagery to the left limb. For both groups, the squat exercise elicited sig-nificantly higher EMG amplitudes than the plie exercise in both the concentric and eccentric phases of the movement. Although the expected significant differences in EMG amplitudes between the imagery and control groups were not observed, the results of this study suggest that motor imagery is a simple and cost-effective technique that may result in more effective training/rehabilitation practices.