Dear Editor-in-Chief
Pilates is an exercise developed by Joseph H. Pilates (1880 ~ 1967) in the early 1900s which performed continuously developing for various purposes, such as muscle strength and rehabilitation. The Pilates is classified that the abdominal, lower back, gluteus, and femoral muscles into the important muscle groups, which called Powerhouse (1). The muscles surrounding the core play a central role in body control and balance based on maintaining the stability of the lumbar spine as a source of force for the movement of the extremities (2, 3). In particular, core stability as a movement path of upper and lower body forces is a key factor in the operation of an integrated system of body movement (4).
In Pilates, teaser is a high-difficulty maneuver that can strengthen core muscles such as abdominis, gluteus, and deep neck flexor (5), the teaser maneuver is a motion that makes a ‘V’ shape by slowly lifting the upper and lower body from a lying position. Therefore, when performing the teaser maneuver, the core muscles are intensively used, and the balance of the upper and lower body must be maintained at the highest point, so it is the most efficient and high-level maneuver for improving body balance and stabilization through core stability. The teaser maneuver is performed on a mat, and generally, 0.6 cm, 0.8~1 cm, and 1.6 cm thick mats are used. However, biomechanical studies according to the thickness of the mat were not conducted.
Therefore, the purpose of this study was to compare the integrated electromyography (iEMG) and displacement of the center of pressure (CoP) according to mat thickness during teaser maneuver.
The participants in this study were 7 Pilates experts (32.82 ± 5.42 yr, 165.65 ± 2.24 cm, 54.84 ± 4.07 kg) with no history of musculoskeletal injury in the past 12 months.
This study was approved by Incheon National University Ethical Committee (No. 7007971-202010-001A).
To analyze iEMG and displacement of CoP according to mat thicknesses (0.6 cm, 1.5 cm, and 3.5 cm), one force plate (OR6-7-1000, AMTI Inc., Watertown, USA; sampling rate: 1000 Hz) and four channel of EMG (Trigno Avanti Sensor, Delsys Inc., USA; sampling rate: 2000 Hz) was used. The EMG was attached rectus abdominis, external oblique, quadriceps femoris, and spinal erector (6). All participants were performed the teaser maneuver for five seconds in each mat conditions. All data were processed by Matlab R2020a (MathWorks, USA). A Friedman analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed with Wilcoxon signed-rank test using SPSS 24 (Armonk, New York, USA). A level of significance was set to α=.05.
As a results, the path length was significantly differences between 0.6 cm, 1.5 cm, and 3.5 cm conditions.
The sway was significantly differences between 0.6 cm, 1.5 cm, and 3.5 cm. The external oblique was significantly differences between 0.6 cm, 1.5 cm, and 3.5 cm conditions. The quadricep femoris was not significantly differences between each condition. The rectus abdominis was significantly differences between each condition, and the erector spinae was not significantly differences between each condition (Table 1).
Table 1:
Results of Displacement of CoP and integrated EMG during teaser maneuver
| Parameters (unit) | Mat Thickness (Mean ±SD) | χ2 | Asymp. Sig. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
| |||||
| 0.6 cm | 1.5 cm | 3.5 cm | |||
| Path Length (cm) | 3.1999±.8362c | 3.2957±.6705b | 2.7855±.7194b, c | 8.000 | .018* |
| CE 95% Sway (cm2) | .5565±.8400c | .4347±.6339 | .0932±.0431c | 7.143 | .028* |
| External Oblique (μV) | .00133 ±.00076 a, c | .00207 ±.00120 c | .00252 ±.00197 a | 8.86 | .012* |
| Quadriceps Femoris (μV) | .00846 ±.00643 | .00898 ±.00615 | .00930 ±.00713 | 3.71 | .156 |
| Rectus Abdominis (μV) | .00409 ±.00208 | .00461 ±.00252 b | .00485 ±.00257 b | 8.00 | .018* |
| Erector Spinae (μV) | .00109 ±.00066 | .00142 ±.00091 | .00152 ±.00145 | 3.43 | .180 |
Note. a = 0.6 cm vs. 1.5 cm,
b = 1.5 cm vs. 3.5 cm,
c = 0.6 cm vs. 3.5 cm
*, a, b, c Significant difference at P < 0.05
In summary, mat thickness in Pilates teaser maneuver was affected the displacement of center of pressure and muscle activity with external oblique and erector spinae muscles. The results suggested that mat thickness in Pilates teaser maneuver may maximized stability, which is thought to activate the core muscles.
Footnotes
Conflict of Interest
The authors declare that there is no conflict of interests.
References
- 1.Werba DD, Cantergi D, Tolfo Franzoni L, et al. (2017). Electrical Activity of Powerhouse Muscles during the Teaser Exercise of Pilates using Different Types of Apparatus. Percept Mot Skills, 124(2):452–61. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 2.Hibbs AE, Thompson KG, French D, et al. (2008). Optimizing Performance by Improving Core Stability and Core Strength. Sports Med, 38(12):995–1008. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 3.Borghuis J, Hof AL, Lemmink KA. (2008). The Importance of Sensory-Motor Control in Providing Core Stability. Sports Med, 38(11):893–916. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 4.Enoka RM. (2008). Neuromechanics of human movement. Human kinetics. [Google Scholar]
- 5.Segal NA, Hein J, Basford JR. (2004). The Effects of Pilates Training on Flexibility and Body Composition: An Observational Study. Arch Phys Med Rehabil, 85(12):1977–81. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 6.Dias JM, de Oliveira Menacho M, Mazuquin BF, et al. (2014). Comparison of the Electromyographic Activity of the Anterior Trunk during the Execution of Two Pilates Exercises Teaser and Longspine for Healthy People. J Electro and Kin, 24(5):689–97. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]