Clinical Biomechanics
Volume 25, Issue 2 , Pages 115-123 , February 2010

A comparison of ultrasound and electromyography measures of force and activation to examine the mechanics of abdominal wall contraction

  • Stephen H.M. Brown

      Affiliations

    • Present address: Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, University of California San Diego, San Diego, CA, USA.
    • ,
  • Stuart M. McGill

      Affiliations

    • Corresponding Author InformationCorresponding author. Address: Department of Kinesiology, University of Waterloo, 200 University Ave West, Waterloo, ON, Canada N2L 3G1.

Received 15 July 2009 ,Accepted 5 October 2009.

References 

  1. Barker PJ, Guggenheimer KT, Grkovic I, Briggs CA, Jones DC, Thomas CDL, et al. Effects of tensioning the lumbar fasciae on segmental stiffness during flexion and extension. Spine. 2006;31:397–405
  2. Brown SHM, McGill SM. How the inherent stiffness of the in-vivo human trunk varies with changing magnitudes of muscular activation. Clin. Biomech. 2008;23:15–22
  3. Brown SHM, McGill SM. An ultrasound investigation into the morphology of the human abdominal wall uncovers complex deformation patterns during contraction. Eur. J. Appl. Physiol. 2008;104:1021–1030
  4. Brown SHM, McGill SM. Transmission of muscularly generated force and stiffness between layers of the rat abdominal wall. Spine. 2009;34:E70–E75
  5. Brown SHM, Potvin JR. Constraining spine stability levels in an optimization model leads to the prediction of trunk muscle cocontraction and improved spine compression force estimates. J. Biomech. 2005;38:745–754
  6. Brown SHM, Vera-Garcia FJ, McGill SM. Effects of abdominal muscle coactivation on the externally preloaded trunk: variations in motor control and its effect on spine stability. Spine. 2006;31:E387–E393
  7. Cholewicki J, McGill SM. Mechanical stability of the in vivo lumbar spine: implications for injury and chronic low back pain. Clin. Biomech. 1996;11:1–15
  8. Cholewicki J, Juluru K, McGill SM. Intra-abdominal pressure mechanism for stabilizing the lumbar spine. J. Biomech. 1999;32:13–17
  9. Cholewicki J, Ivancic PC, Radebold A. Can increased intra-abdominal pressure in humans be decoupled from trunk muscle co-contraction during steady state isometric exertions?. Eur. J. Appl. Physiol. 2002;87:127–133
  10. Coghlan, S., Crowe, L., McCarthyPersson, U., Minogue, C., Caulfield, B., 2008. Electrical muscle stimulation for deep stabilizing muscles in abdominal wall. In: Annual international conference of the IEEE engineering in medicine and biology society, pp. 2756–2759.
  11. Cresswell AG, Thorstensson A. The role of the abdominal musculature in the elevation of the intra-abdominal pressure during specified tasks. Ergonomics. 1989;32:1237–1246
  12. Essendrop M, Schibye B. Intra-abdominal pressure and activation of abdominal muscles in highly trained participants during sudden heavy trunk loadings. Spine. 2004;29:2445–2451
  13. Farfan HF. Mechanical Disorders of the Low Back. Philadelphia, PA: Lea & Febiger; 1973;
  14. Ferreira PH, Ferreira ML, Hodges PW. Changes in recruitment of the abdominal muscles in people with low back pain: ultrasound measurement of muscle activity. Spine. 2004;22:2560–2566
  15. Gardner-Morse M, Stokes IAF. The effects of abdominal muscle coactivation on lumbar spine stability. Spine. 1998;23:86–91
  16. Gatton M, Pearcy M, Pettet G. Modelling the line of action for the oblique abdominal muscles using an elliptical torso model. J. Biomech. 2001;34:1203–1207
  17. Hodges PW, Pengel LHM, Herbert RD, Gandevia SC. Measurement of muscle contraction with ultrasound imaging. Muscle Nerve. 2003;27:682–692
  18. Huijing PA, Baan GC. Myofascial force transmission: muscle relative position and length determine agonist and synergist muscle force. J. Appl. Physiol. 2003;94:1092–1107
  19. John EK, Beith ID. Can activity within the external abdominal oblique be measured using real-time ultrasound imaging?. Clin. Biomech. 2007;22:972–979
  20. Jorgensen MJ, Marras WS, Smith FW, Pope MH. Sagittal plane moment arms of the female lumbar region rectus abdominis in an upright neutral torso posture. Clin. Biomech. 2005;20:242–246
  21. Marras WS, Mirka GA. Muscle activities during asymmetric trunk angular accelerations. J. Orthopaed. Res. 1990;8:824–832
  22. McGill SM. Kinetic potential of the lumbar trunk musculature about 3 orthogonal orthopedic axes in extreme postures. Spine. 1991;16:809–815
  23. McGill SM. A revised anatomical model of the abdominal musculature for torso flexion efforts. J. Biomech. 1996;29:973–977
  24. McGill SM, Juker D, Axler C. Correcting trunk muscle geometry obtained from MRI and CT scans of supine postures for use in standing postures. J. Biomech. 1996;29:643–646
  25. McGill S, Juker D, Kropf P. Appropriately placed surface EMG electrodes reflect deep muscle activity (psoas, quadratus lumborum, abdominal wall) in the lumbar spine. J. Biomech. 1996;29:1503–1507
  26. McGill SM, Grenier S, Kavcic N, Cholewicki J. Coordination of muscle activity to assure stability of the lumbar spine. J. Electromyogr. Kinesiol. 2003;13:353–359
  27. McMeeken JM, Beith ID, Milligan P, Critchley DJ. The relationship between EMG and change in thickness of transversus abdominis. Clin. Biomech. 2004;19:337–342
  28. Misuri G, Colagrande S, Gorini M, Iandelli I, Mancini M, Duranti R, et al. In vivo ultrasound assessment of respiratory function of abdominal muscles in normal subjects. Eur. Respir. J. 1997;10:2861–2867
  29. Pope MH, Andersson GBJ, Broman H, Svensson M, Zetterberg C. Electromyographic studies of lumbar trunk musculature during the development of axial torques. J. Orthopaed. Res. 1986;4:288–297
  30. Rankin G, Stokes M, Newham DJ. Abdominal muscle size and symmetry in normal subjects. Muscle Nerve. 2006;34:320–326
  31. Tesh KM, Shaw Dunn J, Evans JH. The abdominal muscles and vertebral stability. Spine. 1987;12:501–508
  32. Thelen DG, Schultz AB, Ashton-Miller JA. Quantitative interpretation of lumbar muscle myoelectric signals during rapid cyclic attempted trunk flexions and extensions. J. Biomech. 1994;27:157–167
  33. Urquhart DM, Barker PJ, Hodges PW, Story IH, Briggs CA. Regional morphology of the transversus abdominis and obliquus internus and externus abdominis muscles. Clin. Biomech. 2005;20:233–241
  34. Vera-Garcia FJ, Brown SHM, Gray JR, McGill SM. Effects of different levels of torso coactivation on trunk muscular and kinematic responses to posteriorly applied sudden loads. Clin. Biomech. 2006;21:443–455
  35. Whittaker JL. Ultrasound imaging of the lateral abdominal wall muscles in individuals with lumbopelvic pain and signs of concurrent hypocapnia. Manual Ther. 2008;13:404–410

PII: S0268-0033(09)00225-3

doi: 10.1016/j.clinbiomech.2009.10.001

Clinical Biomechanics
Volume 25, Issue 2 , Pages 115-123 , February 2010

Article Tools

* Image Usage & Resolution