Electromyography and clinical neurophysiology
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Electromyogr Clin Neurophysiol · Nov 2008
Influence of trunk muscle co-contraction on spinal curvature during sitting reclining against the backrest of a chair.
Today, many office workers frequently adopt a relaxed or slumped sitting posture for many hours, and often people tend to spend their leisure time reclining against the backrest of a chair while sitting for a long time, as when watching television. While sitting, the pelvis rotates backwardly, and lumbar lordosis is flattened. Simultaneously, the load on the intervertebral discs and spine increases. ⋯ The co-contraction of the trunk muscles resulted in significantly less lumbar curvature and more sacral angle than during slump sitting. The thoracic curvature showed no significant change during either sitting posture. The results of this study indicated that co-contraction of the trunk muscles during sitting reclining against the backrest of a chair could bring about the correct lumbar curvature, effectively stabilize the lumbopelvic region, and decrease focal stress on passive structures.