Chronic Effect of Individualized Core Stability Programs in Recreational Athletes.
Condition: Core Stability
Study type: Interventional

Summary: 
      Core stability (CS) training is nowadays largely used in several fields, mainly to enhance
      athletic performance and to prevent and rehabilitate musculoskeletal injuries. However, in
      several experimental studies, CS training programs have not delivered as positive results as
      could be expected. The lack of proper modulation and quantification of the training load
      parameters (such as intensity, volume, frequency, etc.) may be one of the main explanations.
      Although training intensity has been manipulated by modifying the CS exercise difficulty
      through variations in mechanical constraints (i.e. participant posture, lever arms, base of
      support, unstable surfaces, etc.), to the best of the authors' knowledge no experimental
      study has quantified the CS training intensity based on objective parameters. The
      quantification of the load intensity is fundamental to analyze the dose-response
      relationships between training and CS adaptations. Therefore, the main aim of this study is
      to evaluate the effectiveness of two individualized CS training programs using smartphone
      accelerometers placed on the pelvis to quantify the intensity of several of the most common
      CS exercises employed in fitness, sports and rehabilitation. The expected effect is that the
      experimental groups will improve CS significantly.
    

Detailed description: 
      Sixty recreational male athletes will be evaluated twice (pre-test 1 and pre-test 2) before a
      core stability (CS) training program. Testing sessions will consist in several tests to
      assess sitting and global dynamic postural control, trunk isometric endurance, neuromuscular
      function of the lower extremities, trunk response to sudden and unexpected load perturbations
      and pelvic oscillation during CS exercises evaluated with a smartphone accelerometer. Later,
      they will be randomly assigned to one of the three groups included in the study: two
      experimental groups (low and high intensity) and a control group. The intervention will have
      a training frequency of 2 days per week for 6 weeks. Each CS training session will consist in
      4 sets of one variation of four of the most popular stabilization exercises used to challenge
      core muscles: frontal bridge, back bridge, lateral bridge and bird-dog. Exercise variations
      will be performed isometrically in increasing order of difficulty through the modifications
      of the following mechanical constraints: lever-arm, number of supports and/or the use of
      unstable surfaces. The CS training programs will differ in exercises intensity, mainly. Each
      participant of the low intensity group will perform those exercise variations in which they
      have obtained an oscillation ranged between 0.2 and 0.3 m/s2 in pre-test, while participants
      of the high intensity group will perform the exercise variations in which they have obtained
      an oscillation ranged between 0.4 and 0.5 m/s2. The exercise duration will be set at 30 s and
      15 s for the low intensity and high intensity group, respectively. All participants of the
      training groups will be revaluated every two weeks during the training period. After the
      intervention period, all participants will perform a post-test to evaluate the effectiveness
      of both CS programs. Statistical analysis will consist in repeated-measures ANOVAs for
      detecting possible significant differences within and between-groups.
    

Intervention name(s): Core stability training
Intervention type(s): Other
Intervention description(s): Effect of different core stability programs using diverse training intensities
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: Double (Investigator, Outcomes Assessor)
Primary purpose: Treatment
Keywords: trunk stability; accelerometer; smartphone; core training; isometric exercises