Core stability exercises on and off a Swiss ball.

OBJECTIVES

To assess lumbopelvic muscle activity during different core stability exercises on and off a Swiss ball.

DESIGN

Prospective comparison study.

SETTING

Research laboratory.

PARTICIPANTS

Eight healthy volunteers from a university population.

INTERVENTION

Subjects performed 4 exercises on and off a Swiss ball: inclined press-up, upper body roll-out, single-leg hold, and quadruped exercise.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

Surface electromyography from selected lumbopelvic muscles, normalized to maximum voluntary isometric contraction, and median frequency analysis of electromyography power spectrum. Visual analog scale for perception of task difficulty.

RESULTS

There was a significant increase in the activation of the rectus abdominus with performance of the single-leg hold and at the top of the press-up on the Swiss ball. This led to changes in the relation between the activation levels of the lumbopelvic muscles measured.

CONCLUSIONS

Although there was evidence to suggest that the Swiss ball provides a training stimulus for the rectus abdominus, the relevance of this change to core stability training requires further research because the focus of stabilization training is on minimizing rectus abdominus activity. Further support has also been provided about the quality of the quadruped exercise for core stability.