Background: The Nordic hamstring exercise is a closed-chain exercise that effectively activates all lower extremity muscles, but there is a lack of consideration of ankle joint which affects exercise effectiveness. One of the major advantages of the Nordic exercise have been known as strengthening lower extremity extensors. This manifests the exercise increases activities of the ankle plantar flexors as well as hip extensors. Objectives: To investigated the impacts of changes in ankle position on the lower extremity musculature and subjective difficulties during the Nordic hip extension exercise. Design: Cross-sectional study. Methods: Twenty the healthy male participants participated in this study. Participants perform three variations of the Nordic exercises including three ankle positions. Each Nordic exercise was defined as ankle position (neutral, dorsiflexion and plantar flexion). During the Nordic exercise, erector spine (ES), gluteus maximus (GM), biceps femoris (BF), gastrocnemius (GCM) activities and subjective difficulties (Borg RPE score) were measured. Results: Muscular activities of the biceps femoris and gastrocnemius were significantly different among the three ankle conditions, which showed controversial results (P<.05). The biceps femoris activity was significantly higher with the dorsiflexion condition, compared to the others (P<.05). On the other hand, activity of the gastrocnemius was significantly higher with the plantarflexion position compared to the others (P<.05). Conclusion: Present study suggests the ankle positional changes could affect lower muscular activities during the Nordic exercise. Although it is difficult to affirm the causes due to limited data, selective activation of the biceps femoris might accomplish with ankle dorsi flexion and that of the gastrocnemius might accomplish with the ankle plantarflexion during the Nordic exercises.

Background: Compression of the sacroiliac joint (SIJ) enables lumbo-pelvic muscles to increase pelvic stability and reduce pain. Many previous studies assessed the effects of pelvic compression belts on the stabilization of the lumbar and SIJs. However, there are a lack of studies to date on the effects of pelvic compression taping (PCT). Objectives: To investigate the effects of PCT on the muscle activity of lumbopelvic muscles during prone hip extension (PHE). Design: Pre-post test design. Methods: In total, 19 healthy male and female participants performed PHE with and without PCT. A surface electromyography system was used to record the muscle activity of multifidus, erector spinae, internal oblique abdominal, and gluteus maximus muscles, and the activities of these muscles before and after taping were compared. Results: During PHE, the activities of the multifidus and erector spinae muscles (P<.05) significantly increased after taping, while that of the internal oblique abdominal muscle significantly decreased after taping (P<.05). However, the activity of the gluteus maximums muscle did not significantly increase or decrease after taping (P>.05). Conclusion: PCT for the SIJ improves the stability of the lumbo-pelvic region, and the use of PCT with functional training would lead to positive clinical effects.

Background: Improvement of the lumbo-pelvic stability can reduce the compensatory action of the erector spinae (ES) during prone hip extension (PHE). Furthermore, the application of abdominal drawing-in (ADI) maneuver increases the action of gluteus maximus (GM) and decreases the action of ES during PHE by improving the lumbo-pelvic stability. However, the post-ADI exercise effects on PHE, not the real-time application of ADI maneuver, has not been studied. Objects: This study is aimed at investigating the post-ADI exercise effects on the muscle activities of GM and ES during PHE. Methods: A total of 24 female adults participated in the study, and they were divided into two groups: Those with normal abdominal muscles (n1=12) and those with weak abdominal muscles (WA) (n2=12). Before the intervention, the subjects’ GM and ES muscle activities during PHE were measured. Subsequently, the two groups were asked to perform the ADI exercise for 10 minutes. After the ADI exercise, the GM and ES activities were equally measured during PHE. Results: The comparison result of the ES muscle activities before intervention shows a significant difference between the two groups (p<.05); the WA group showed higher muscle activities than the normal group. For the within-group comparison, the muscle activities of the ES in the WA group significantly decreased after the ADI exercise (p<.05). For the GM muscle activity, no significant difference was observed in all comparisons (p>.05). For the changes in muscle activities before and after the ADI exercise, a significant difference exists between the two groups only for the changes in ES activities (p<.05); WA group exhibits higher changes than the normal group. By contrast, no significant difference exists between the two groups for the changes in GM activities (p>.05). Conclusion: After the ADI exercise, the compensatory action of ES in the female adults with WC is implied to decrease during PHE.

Background: Round shoulder posture, results from excessive flexed posture of the thorax, is defined as a position of scapular protraction, anterior tipping, and downward rotation. However, previous studies have focused on only passive position of the thorax during scapular posterior tilting (SPT) and have not reported on SPT combined with correction of flexed posture. Objects: The aim of this study was to compare effects of SPT and SPT with prone trunk extension (SPT + PTE) on activities of the lower trapezius, serratus anterior, and thoracic erector spinae and degree of posture in subjects with round shoulder and flexed posture. Methods: Fifteen subjects with round shoulder and flexed posture were recruited. The caliper was used to measure the degree of round shoulder and flexed posture. Electromyography was performed to collect data of muscle activities. Paired t-test was used to compare two exercise (α=.05). Results: When SPT + PTE was applied, the degree of round shoulder posture (p=.001) and flexed posture (p=.039) significantly decreased compared with that when SPT was applied. The lower trapezius activity significantly increased in the SPT + PTE condition compared with that in the SPT condition (p=.026). There were no significant differences in serratus anterior activity between SPT + PTE and SPT. The thoracic erector spinae activity significantly increased in the SPT + PTE condition compared with that in the SPT condition (p=.014). Conclusion: SPT + PTE might be one of the effective methods to enhance activities of lower trapezius and thoracic erector spinae, and to reduce round shoulder posture and flexed posture in subjects with round shoulder and flexed posture.

The objective of this study was to compare the differences on the activity and power of the wrist flexors and extensors in subjects before the use of a wrist extension splint, after nighttime wearing of the splint, and after daytime wearing of the splint. Ten healthy male and ten healthy female students (mean: 22.4±1.2 years old) volunteered to wear custom-made wrist splints either during the night or during the day, The hand force of the wrist flexor and extensor, and grip force were measured by PowerTrack II and Dynatron, respectively. At the same time, the activities of the wrist flexor and extensor were recorded by' surface electromyography. The maximal hand force and motor unit recruitment of the flexor carpi ulnatis (FCU) increased significantly (p<.05) when tile subjects wore the wrist splints during the daytime, but the maximal hand power of the FCU decreased with nighttime use of the splints. The maximal hand power and motor unit recruitment of the extensor carpi radialis (ECR) and the ECR/FCU ratio decreased both during nighttime and daytime use. The decrement of the ECR/FCU ratio was significant (p<.05). Wearing a wrist extension splint during nighttime led to the maintenance of a lengthened position of the wrist flexor, resulting in the wrist flexor becoming weak. Wearing a wrist extension splint during the day induced the wrist flexors to be greater. In healthy people, the imbalance between the wrist flexors and extensors may be caused by the use of a wrist extension splint. This study indicates that therapists have to consider whether a splint will be effective, as well as the wearing time, when prescribing splints to people with problems of the musculoskeletal system.