• Physical Therapy Korea
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.16-25
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• 2010

The aim of this study was to determine the muscle activity of the abdominalis and erector spinae during bridging and unilateral bridging exercises on the firm surface, the sir-fit, and the foam roll. Eighteen healthy young subjects were recruited for this study. Surface electromyographic (EMG) activities were recorded from the both sides of the rectus abdominalis, external obliques, internal obliques, and erector spinae muscles during bridging and unilateral bridging-exercises. A one-way repeated analysis of variance was used to compare the EMG activity of each muscle according to the support surface condition. Differences in the EMG activities between the bridging and unilateral bridging exercises, and between the right and left side were assessed using a paired t-test. The study showed that the EMG activities of all of the muscles were significantly higher when the bridging exercise was performed using the foam roll or sit-fit than on the firm surface. The EMG activities of the right rectus abdominis, right external obliques, the right internal oblique, and both erector spinae were significantly higher during unilateral bridging ex exercise using the foam roll or the sit-fit than on the firm surface. The EMG activities of all of the muscles were significantly higher during the unilateral bridging exercise than during the bridging exercise. Based on these finding, performing the unilateral bridging exercise using the sit-fit or the foam roll is a useful method for facilitating trunk muscle strength and lumbar stability.

• The Journal of Korean Physical Therapy
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.319-324
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• 2012

Purpose: This study examined the muscle activities of the erector spinae (ES) and gluteus maximus (GM) during bridging exercises with and without abdominal-hollowing. Methods: Nineteen healthy subjects with no medical history of low back pain or hip flexion contracture were enrolled in this study. The subjects performed bridging exercises with and without abdominal hollowing or with and without a one-leg lift. The muscle activities of the ES and GM were measured by surface electromyography during bridging exercises under each condition. A 2 (abdominal hollowing)X2 (one-leg lift) repeated ANOVA was used to compare the normalized muscle activities of the ES and GM. Results: The muscle activity of the ES during bridging exercise with abdominal-hollowing was significantly smaller than that without abdominal-hollowing (p=0.00). The muscle activities of the GM during bridging exercise with abdominal-hollowing were significantly greater than those without abdominal-hollowing (p=0.00). In addition, the muscle activities of the GM during bridging exercise with one-leg lifting was significantly greater than that without one-leg lifting (p=0.00). Conclusion: Bridging exercise with abdominal-hollowing appears to be more effective on activating the GM muscle than that without abdominal-hollowing minimizing the activation of the ES muscle.

• PNF and Movement
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.49-55
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• 2012

Purpose : The purpose of this study was to assess the effects of bridging exercise and combined lifting pattern bridging exercise on the lower extremity muscle activity. Methods : Twenty-five healthy adults volunteered to participate in this study. Subjects were required to complete following bridging exercises. Muscle activity was measured by QEMG-4 system(LXM 3204, Laxtha Korea). A paired t test was used to determine the influence of muscle activity for each exercise and descriptive statistics was used to characteristics of the subjects. Results : The biceps femoris, tibialis anterior, gastrocnemius of combined lifting pattern bridging exercise showed significance excepted vastus medialis(p<.05). In the case of men, biceps femoris showed significance in the combined lifting pattern bridging exercise(p<.05). In the case of women, biceps femoris and tibialis anterior showed significance in the combined lifting pattern bridging exercise(p<.05). Conclusion : The combined lifting pattern bridging exercise was more increased than bridging in lower extremity muscle activation. This result will be used for knee joint stabilizing exercises and biceps femoris strength training.

• Physical Therapy Korea
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.1-9
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• 2009

An abdominal drawing-in maneuver (ADIM) with a pressure biofeedback unit can be used to prevent excessive lumbar lordosis during bridging exercise. Therefore, in this research, the effects of an ADIM on lumbar lordosis and lower extremity muscle activity during bridging exercise were investigated in thirty healthy adults. Surface electromyography (EMG) and VICON system were used to collect kinematic data and muscle activity, respectively. A paired t-test was used to determine a statistical significance. The results showed as follows: (1) When performing bridging exercise with an ADIM, the height of the anterior superior iliac spine and greater trochanter decreased significantly (p<.05). (2) When performing bridging exercise with an ADIM, the trunk extension angle and pelvic angle increased significantly (p<.05). (3) When performing bridging exercise with an ADIM, the EMG signal amplitude increased significantly in the rectus abdominis, internal oblique abdominis, external oblique abdominis, medial hamstring, and lateral hamstring (p<.05). (4) When performing bridging exercise with an ADIM, the EMG signal amplitude decreased significantly in the erector spinae (p<.05). From the result of this research, an ADIM trained with pressure biofeedback unit during bridging exercise is effective to prevent excessive contraction of erector spinae, to limit excessive motion of pelvis from sagittal plane and to increase muscle activity of abdominal muscles and hamstring muscle.

• Physical Therapy Rehabilitation Science
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.149-154
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• 2023

Objective: This study is designed to investigate the effect of ankle joint position on hip extensor muscle activity when bridging exercise in sagittal plane. Design: Cross-sectional study Methods: The subjects were recruited from 20 healthy adult men. The subjects performed three types of bridging exercises (normal bridging, ankle dorsiflexion bridging, ankle plantar flexion bridging) three times for five seconds with a rest of 15 seconds between measurements and two minutes of rest between each motion. The target muscles were the gluteus maximus, biceps femoris, soleus, and tibialis anterior. A surface electromyography was used to measure the muscle activity of these muscles. Results: The results show there was no statistically significant difference between the three types of exercise in the gluteus maximus muscle activity. However, the biceps femoris showed a significant difference between the three types of exercises (p<0.05). Conclusions: In conclusion, when the three different bridging exercises were performed by adding ankle motion to normal bridging exercise, there was a significant difference in the muscle activity of the gluteus maximus relative to the biceps femoris muscle activity in the order of the ankle dorsiflexion bridging, normal bridging, and ankle plantar flexion bridging exercise. Therefore, this could be an effective option for a bridging exercise if applied to patients with a weak gluteal muscle and shortening of the hamstring muscle in further studies.

• Physical Therapy Rehabilitation Science
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.244-250
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• 2021

Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of sprinter pattern bridging exercise using theraband on activation of lower extremity and abdominal muscle and to find out postures that can effectively improve abdominal and lower extremity muscle strength and increase abdominal stability. Methods: This study was designed as a cross-sectional study. The following research was done with applicants attending S university in Seoul to compare the difference in muscle activity between one-leg-Support bridging exercise and sprinter-pattern bridging exercise using theraband. For 48 study participants, we first measured their MVC. Then, we applied one-leg-support bridging exercise and sprinter-pattern bridging exercise at random order. These data were expressed as the percentage of maximal voluntary contraction (%MVC).Electromyography analysis was performed by measuring the external obliques, internal obliques, biceps femoris, and gluteus maximus. Results: There was a statistically significant increment of muscle activity in external and internal oblique muscle(p<0.001)by sprinter-pattern bridging exercise using theraband. On the lower body, statistically significant increment of muscle activity in biceps femoris and gluteus maximus was found(p<0.05). On the other hand, on erector spinae, there was statistically significant decrease in muscle activity(p<0.05). Conclusions: Efficient treatment is expected when sprinter-pattern bridging exercise using theraband is applied clinically.For patients with chronic knee and ankle pain who have difficulty bearing weight, including low back pain and internal rotation of the femur, starting with a low weight bearing, we think it will be helpful in planning systematic training aimed at progressively strengthening the lower extremities.

• Physical Therapy Korea
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.26-34
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• 2010

The purpose of this study was to compare the trunk and lower extremity muscle activity induced by six different conditions floor, intensity 0, 1, 3, 5 of whole body vibration (WBV), and Swiss ball during bridging exercise. Surface electromyography (EMG) was used to measure trunk and lower extremity muscles activity. Ten elderly women were recruited from Hong-sung Senior Citizen Welfare Center. The collected EMG data were normalized using reference contraction (during floor bridging) and expressed as a percentage of reference voluntary contraction (%RVC). To analyze the differences in EMG data, the repeated one-way analysis of variance was used. A Bonferroni's correction was used for multiple comparisons. The study showed that EMG activity of the rectus abdominis, external oblique, internal oblique, erector spinae and rectus abdominis muscles were not significantly different between six different conditions of during bridging exercise (p>.05). However, there were significantly increased EMG activity of the rectus femoris (p=.034) in the WBV intensity 0, 1, 3, and 5 conditions compared with the floor bridging condition. EMG activity of the medial gastrocnemius were significantly increased in the WBV intensity 0, 1, 3, 5 and Swiss ball conditions compared with the floor bridging condition. Future studies are required the dynamic instability condition such as one leg lifting in bridging.

• Physical Therapy Korea
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.59-66
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• 2011

The purpose of this study is to examine the activity ratios of global trunk muscles and local trunk muscles in relation to adjustments in the level of task difficulty while performing stability exercises in easily applied bridging lumbar stabilization exercise. Twenty healthy subjects performed bridging lumbar stabilization exercise while the level of task difficulty was plate was used in the same posture for all the exercises. EMG was used to examine the activity ratios of the global muscles and multifidus in relation to the level of task difficulty. Moreover, the activity ratios of the multifidus muscle, the erector spinae and the gluteus maximus muscle were measured. A one-way ANOVA with repeated measures was used, and a Bonferroni correction was conducted (${\alpha}$=.05). When the bridging lumbar stabilization exercise were performed at different difficulty levels, the activity of the multifidus muscle, which is a local muscle, was high in all three exercises. Also, compared to low intensity and intermediate intensity exercises, high intensity exercises showed more significant differences (${\alpha}$=.05). Among all the muscles, the multifidus showed the highest activity at intermediate intensity. Based on these results, we suggest that in the case of bridging lumbar stabilization exercise, low intensity or intermediate intensity exercises are more suitable and efficient for local muscle stabilization.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Physical Medicine
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.33-40
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• 2016

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of stable and unstable surfaces on abdominal muscle thickness and changes in trunk muscle thickness in accordance with breathing methods during bridging exercises. METHODS: Bridging exercise on a stable surface, bridging exercise on an unstable surface, bridging exercise using a drawing-in maneuver on a stable surface, bridging exercise using a drawing-in maneuver on an unstable surface, bridging exercise using bracing on a stable surface, bridging exercise using bracing on an unstable surface. In sequence, the muscles' thickness was measured three times before and after each exercise, and the measured value was averaged. RESULTS: There were significant differences in internal oblique and transversus abdominis muscles' thickness in the drawing-in maneuver in both stable and unstable surface (p<0.05). There were no significant differences in external oblique muscle's thickness in the bridging exercise in both stable and unstable surface. The type of surface did not have a significant influence on the abdominal muscles' thickness. CONCLUSION: As a result of the study, the drawing-in maneuver had a greater effect than bridging or bracing maneuver on muscle thickness. We suggest that drawing-in maneuver will be more effective in a person with a weak abdominal muscle.

• Physical Therapy Korea
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.17-25
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• 2010

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of supporting surface instability to trunk and lower extremity muscle activities during bridging exercise combined with core-stabilization exercise. Thirty young healthy adults (15 males and 15 females) voluntarily participated in this study. Each subject was asked to perform bridging exercise combined with core-stabilization exercise on three different supporting surfaces (stable ground surface, the wooden balancing board, and the air cushion). The muscle activities were measured using surface electromyography (EMG) during performing exercise. To test statistical significance, one-way ANOVA with repeated measures was used with the significance level of .05. The findings of this study are summarized as follows. (1) There were significant differences in muscle activities on internal oblique, external oblique, gluteus medius, semitendinosus, biceps femoris, medial gastrocnemius and lateral gastrocnemius during exercise (p<.05). (2) The biceps femoris and lateral gastrocnemius showed significantly higher muscle activity on the wooden balancing board rather than on the ground, and semitendinosus, biceps femoris, medial gastrocnemius and lateral gastrocnemius showed significantly higher muscle activity on the air cushion rather than on the ground (p<.05). Therefore, it is concluded that muscle activities in the trunk and the lower limbs during bridging exercise combined with core-stabilization exercise was affected with instability of supporting surface. Further researches are needed to investigate the long term effect of bridging exercise on muscle activity with patient group.