Influence of Head Posture on Trunk Muscle Activation during Prone Bridging Exercise

A Prone Bridging Exercise (PBE) was known common treatment clinically controlling the posture during the bridging exercise was effectively influence on trunk muscle. The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of head posture on trunk muscle activation during the PBE. Fifteen healthy men of the S University participated in this study. Subjects were randomly assigned three conditions of trial the PBE with head posture neutral, flexion, and extension. The muscle activation of the Rectus Abdominal muscle (RA), erector muscle of spine (ES), Transverse Abdominal muscle (TrA) and Lumbar multifidus muscle (MF) during the PBE on the three different head postures were measured using the surface electromyography (sEMG). In the PBE, the %Maximum Voluntary Contraction (%MVC) values of the RA muscle during the flexion posture was significantly higher than neutral posture(p<.05). The %MVC values of the RA muscle during the flexion posture were significantly higher than the extension posture (p<.05). The %MVC values of the MF muscle during the extension posture were significantly higher than the neutral posture (p<.05). The sEMG activities of other muscles were not significant difference among the three head postures. The results of current study mean that head posture was effective to activate the trunk muscle during the PBE. We suggested that the PBE with head posture is effective method to make the greater contraction of the global and local muscles.