Assessment of the abdominal muscles at rest and during abdominal drawing-in manoeuvre in adolescent physically active girls:A case–control study

Background:Animpactofregularphysicalactivity(RPA)ontheabdominalmusclesmaybesignificantwhencomparingvarioussymptomaticgroups.However,thereislackcomprehensiveinformationinthisfield.Theobjectiveofthisstudywastoassessthelateralabdominalwallatrestandduringabdominaldrawing-inmanoeuvreinadolescentphysicallyactivegirlsindifferentbodypositions.Methods:Onehundredandforty-fourfemalestudents,13–17yearsofage,participatedinthestudy.Participantsweredividedinto2groupsbasedonaphysicalactivity(PA)statement.Measurementsofthethicknessoftheabdominalmusclesatrestandduringabdominaldrawing-inmanoeuvreweremadeinthesupineandstandingpositionsbyultrasoundimaging.Results:Comparedtothecontrolgroup,activitiesoftheobliquusinternusandtransversusabdominismuscleswerehigherintheregularPAgroupby8.9%(95%CI:3.1–14.7)and36%(95%CI:19.1–47.5),respectively.IntheRPAgroup,thetransversusabdominispreferentialactivationratiowasgreaterby0.03(95%CI:0.01–0.04),andthecontractionratiowasgreaterbyameanvalueof0.35(95%CI:0.18–0.46).Conclusion:RPAdoesnothaveanyeffectontherestingthicknessoftheabdominalmusclesinthesupineandstandingpositions.GirlsperformingRPAhaveagreaterabilitytoperformanindependentactivationandgreatercontractionsofthetransversusabdominis.