Background: Breathing is the essential step of Pilates exercise and can be used to activate core muscles. Although the effects of breathing exercise on pain, breathing muscles, and cervical posture have been extensively studied, little is known about the impact of Pilates breathing on spinal posture and alignment.
Purpose: To determine the effect of 3D-Pilates breathing exercise on spinal curvature and alignment of healthy adults during corrected to normal alignment.
Design: One group pre-post test design Methods: Eighteen participants were given a 3D-pilates breathing exercise twice a week (20 minutes per session) for three weeks and warmed up for 10 minutes before each exercise session. To examine spinal curvature and alignment of each subject, this study used radiation free rasterstereography (Formetric Ⅲ, Germany). Paired t-test and Wilcoxon signed rank test were performed to determine the difference between pre and post exercise.
Results: There were statistically significant differences in height (p<.001), kyphosis angle (p<.05), trunk imbalance (p<.05), kyphotic apex (p<.01), cervical fleche (p<.05), pelvic tilt (p<.01), and lateral deviation (p<.05) between before and after 3D Pilates breathing exercise. However, there was no significant difference in lordosis angle.
Conclusions: The study results indicated that three week 3D-pilates breathing exercise program could be presented as an effective rehabilitation method for improving spinal curvature and alignment.
This study is performed to investigate the difference of the spinal stability system with and without low back pain. There were 9 participants with low back pain and 9 asymptomatic subjects to be recruited, they were measured thoracic and lumbar curvature, trunk muscle activation in upright sitting postures and slump sitting, back muscle endurance, and lumbar proprioception. Spinal curvature and surface electromyography of 4 trunk muscles were measured in an upright sitting postures and slump sitting in 18 subjects. The result of the study was that there were significant differences between the groups in spinal curvature (p<.05), significantly higher external oblique activity and less internal oblique in the low back pain group than the healthy subjects (p<.05), and significantly less proprioception in the low back pain group (p<.05). But there was not a significant difference between the trunk muscle endurance groups. According to the result, the low back pain group had greater thoracic extension and higher global muscle activity in the upright sitting posture and less proprioception. This study was useful to suggest postural training for normal muscle activation, selective muscle strengthening to prevent chronic deterioration, and helpful in making a treatment plan to indicate a synthetic care method that includes increasing proprioception.
This study examined the rates of spinal abnormal curvature and the correlation of the Body Mass Index (BMI), Low Back Pain (LBP) and spinal curvature by measuring scoliosis, kyphosis, and lordosis in university students. The study population included 67 male, 92 female university students, making a total of 159, in Wonju City. Spinal curvature was measured by an electrogoniometer in a computerized skeletal analysis system. Lateral curvature of spine of more than 10 degrees was considered as nonspostural scoliosis. The correlation of BMI, LBP and the spinal curvature was analysed by Pearson's correlation coefficient and t-test. The following results were obtained: 1. The overall incidence and rate of scoliosis in cases with a greater than 10 degree curve in males was an incidence of 8 and a rate of 11%. In females the incidence was 36 and the rate 39.2%. 2. The overall incidence and rate of kyphosis of less than 20 degrees in males was a rate of 9 and an incidence of 11.9%. In females, the rate was 5 and the incidence 5.4%. In kyphosis cases of more than 40 degrees, the male rate was 5 and the incidence 7.7%. For female the rate was 13 and the incidence 14.2%. 3. The overall incidence and rate of lordosis with curves of less than 20 degrees was a rate of 6 for males and an incidence of 9.0%. For females, the rate was 5 and the incidence 5.4%. In cases of more than 50 degrees lordosis, the female rate was 2 and the incidence 2.2%. There were no males in this category. 4. There was a negative correlation between kyphosis and BMI. The greater the kyphotic curve, the less the BMI in males (p<0.05). There was no significant BMI difference by gender in either scoliosis or lordosis. There was, however, a significantly decreased sacral angle in the female group with LBP. The results of this study cannot be generalized to the general population because the subjects were all from one university. The measurements were quite reliable because the angles determined by the Metrocom System were highly correlated with radiologic findings. This study shows the need for a regular screening system for spinal curvatures in university health examination procedures.