Changes of trunk muscle synergies due to different insole wedges during squatting in athletes

Articles in Press

Document Type : Original research papers

Authors

1 Department of Physical Therapy, University of Iceland, Reykjavík, Iceland.

2 Department of Sport Injuries and Corrective Exercises, Faculty of Sport Sciences, University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran.

3 Faculty of Sport Sciences, University of Mazandaran, Mazandaran, Iran.

10.22098/jast.2025.3614

Abstract

Squatting is an important and common movement repeatedly performed during sports and daily activities. Insoles have been used as an intervention for several purposes, although their effect on trunk muscle synergy among athletes is not clear. The present study aimed to investigate the influence of different insole wedges on trunk muscle synergies during squatting in athletes. Twenty-eight (n=28) healthy athlete males participated in this study voluntarily. They performed a squatting task with 20% of their body mass. Pearson correlation coefficient and repeated measures analysis of variance tests were used to assess the similarity and compare trunk muscle synergies among five wedge conditions: non-wedge, anterior-medial, posterior-medial, anterior-lateral, and posterior-lateral wedges (P < 0.005 for Bonferroni correction). The result of the analysis identified three synergies for trunk muscles in all wedge conditions during squatting. In the first and third synergy, the activation pattern of trunk muscle synergy was highly similar among all wedge conditions (r > 0.9). In the second synergy, a moderate similarity was observed between the non-wedge with the anterior-medial and anterior-lateral wedge conditions (r = 0.584 and 0.654, respectively). In all three synergies, no significant difference was observed in the relative weight of muscles among wedge conditions (P > 0.005). It seems that muscle activity levels have only minor effects on the structures of muscle synergies during squatting. These changes may be a strategy by the central nervous system (CNS) to optimally control squat movement. Future studies are necessary to find other outcomes of these interventions on injury prevention or performance improvement.

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Journal of Advanced Sport Technology

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript
Available Online from 05 January 2025

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History

  • Receive Date: 30 November 2023
  • Revise Date: 02 March 2024
  • Accept Date: 01 January 2025

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