Electromyography, Kinematics, Musculoskeletal Equilibrium, Posture
Conditions
Keywords
Alignment, Posture, Motor control, Intervention
Brief summary
Clinicians frequently assess and intervene on postural alignment. However, research demonstrating the effects of exercise interventions in moving postural alignment toward an evidence-based standard is lacking. Part of the difficulty in establishing such evidence has been a lack of theory-motivated conceptions of what good posture is. In other words, the prevailing understanding of postural alignment is based on the negation of what has been observed to associate with bad outcomes. This study will build upon preliminary findings from our laboratory that define good postural alignment on theoretical grounds. The investigators will measure motion capture and muscle activation patterns during simple postural alignment tasks before and after 1) a corrective exercise intervention, or 2) a control intervention based designed to inhibit superficial muscle tension. The corrective exercise intervention is designed to counteract the natural patterns in which the human skeleton tends to collapse from a standing position under the influence of gravity. The control intervention consists of passive, partner-assisted stretching. Regardless of initial assignment, all participants will crossover (i.e. switch interventions) and repeat the study procedures after a 1-week washout period. Behavioral indicators of movement and nervous system coordination will be used to quantify alignment before and after exercise, as well as the consistency of those alignment patterns with theoretically-defined standards. The knowledge gained from this study will contribute to evidence-based definitions of healthy postural alignment and help identify effective interventions by which clinicians can promote good posture.
Interventions
OTHERExercise Then Stretch
This arm (sequence) will perform an anti-gravity kinetic chain intervention and then a passive, partner-assisted stretching intervention, separated by a one-week washout period.
OTHERStretch Then Exercise
This arm (sequence) will perform a passive, partner-assisted stretching intervention and then an anti-gravity kinetic chain intervention , separated by a one-week washout period.
Sponsors
Radford University
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
CROSSOVER
Primary purpose
BASIC_SCIENCE
Masking
NONE
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to 40 Years
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
* Healthy adult * 18 - 40 years of age
Exclusion criteria
* Recent (\< 6 months) history of lower extremity injury * Recent (\< 6 months) history of other musculoskeletal or neurological disorder affecting balance * Contraindications to participation in physical activity
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Euclidean distance from the vector describing subject-specific, simulated gravitational collapse | Immediately before Intervention (Day 1) | This outcome is a cumulative descriptor of segment angle distance from the pattern in which an individual's posture would collapse. The reference point for each individual is calculated using both pre and post-intervention data for a given day. |
| Pooled intermuscular coherence | Immediately before Intervention (Day 1) | Weighted average of frequency-domain correlations between muscle pairs belonging to anterior, posterior, and trunk muscle groups. |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Top-down kinetic chain continuity | Immediately before Intervention (Day 1) | The purpose of this outcome is to quantify the communication of motion from the upper body to the lower body. In a test involving placing hands-on-head and pulling the elbows back as far as possible, the response in the lower body is quantified by posterior rotation of the tibial segment. |
Countries
United States
Contacts
Primary ContactStephen M Glass, PhD
Outcome results
None listed