Exercícios de estabilização do tronco para indivíduos saudáveis

Abstract

The aim of this study was to analyze the trunk muscular response during different variations of some of the most popular stabilization exercises: front-bridge, back-bridge, side-bridge, and bird-dog. Surface electromyography was bilaterally recorded from rectus abdominis, external and internal oblique and erector spinae during 25 variations of the aforementioned exercises. Compared to the conventional form of the front-and side-bridge, performing these exercises kneeling on a bench or with elbows extended reduced the muscular challenge. Conversely, performing the back-bridge with elbows extended elicited higher muscular activation than the conventional exercise. While bridge exercises with double leg support produced the highest activation levels in those muscles that counteracted gravity, single leg support while bridging increased the activation of the trunk rotators, especially internal oblique. The highest activation levels were found in three exercises: sagittal walkout in a front-bridge position, rolling from right side-bridge into front-bridge position, and side-bridge with single leg support on a BOSU TM balance trainer. Although the exercises performed on unstable surfaces usually enhanced the muscle activation, performing the exercises on the BOSU TM balance trainer did not always increase the trunk muscle activity. Overall, this information may be useful to guide fitness instructors and clinicians when establishing stabilization exercise progressions for the trunk musculature.

Exercise Intensity Progressions and Criteria to Prescribe Core Stability Exercises in Young Physically Active Men: A Smartphone Accelerometer-Based Study

“…Considering the pelvic acceleration data of the bridging exercises (Figures 2–4), the long bridges imposed higher postural demands than the short bridges because the arm's weight force and the body mass lifted off the ground were greater in long bridges. These results are in line with previous posturographic data (22) and support the higher trunk muscular activation observed in different electromyographic studies during long bridges (5,21). In addition, bridging variations performed with single-leg support were generally more challenging than those performed with double-leg support (Figures 2–4), which could be caused by a smaller base of support, a greater hip torque in the supporting leg, and a higher rotational torque in the trunk during bridges with an elevated leg (22).…”

“…Therefore, the Swiss ball use should be considered only for advanced stages of the CS training. Nevertheless, the use of unstable surfaces does not always lead to an increase in CS exercise intensity nor to a greater trunk muscular activation (13,16,21) because this seems to depend on the type of unstable surface used and on the way of using it. In this sense, back and front bridges with double-leg support on the hemisphere ball in this study produced lower postural demands than back and front bridges with single-leg support on a mat (Figures 3 and 4).…”

“…Finally, the performance of limb motions with the elevated limbs may be another important factor to increase the exercise intensity because the bird-dog variations drawing squares in the air were more difficult to perform than similar variations without limb motions (Figure 5). Nevertheless, further research is needed to understand the effect of performing these and other limb motions during CS exercises better because the results of previous electromyographic studies on bird-dog exercises drawing squares or circles in the air are conflicting (17,21).…”

“…All the variations executed on a single-leg stance were performed with the subjects' preferred limb support. In addition, during the bird-dog variations in which subjects drew squares in the air with the elevated limb, a metronome (60 b min 21 ) was used to control the pace of the limb motion (subjects drew one side of the square every second). Subjects were encouraged not to perform a vigorous training session at least 12 hours before the testing sessions and to not eat a large meal just before exercising.…”

Postural Balance Control in Sport and Exercise

“…In addition, CS exercises have been effective in improving balance, functional performance and preventing the risk of falls in older adults (Granacher et al, 2013) and in reducing pain and disability in chronic low back pain patients (Mueller and Niederer, 2020). Most CS exercises, such as bridge/plank and bird-dog exercises, consist of maintaining different lying or quadruped postures that challenge the participants' ability to hold a neutral lumbopelvic position (Okubo et al, 2010;Vera-Garcia et al, 2014Barbado et al, 2018;El-Gohary et al, 2018). The level of difficulty of these exercises, i.e., the lumbopelvic postural control challenge imposed on the participants, has been related to CS exercise intensity (Barbado et al, 2018) and generally modulated by manipulating different biomechanical constraints (i.e., lever arms, unsupported body mass, number and motion of elevated limbs, base of support, use of labile surfaces, etc.…”