NCT05608850

Acute Responses of Postural Alignment, Kinematic Synergy, and Intermuscular Coherence to Postural Muscle Facilitation

• Status: Unknown
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 15 (estimated)
• Sponsor: Radford University · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years – 40 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Accepted

Summary

Clinicians frequently assess and intervene on postural alignment. However, research demonstrating the effects of exercise interventions in moving postural alignment toward an evidence-based standard is lacking. Part of the difficulty in establishing such evidence has been a lack of theory-motivated conceptions of what "good" posture is. In other words, the prevailing understanding of postural alignment is based on the negation of what has been observed to associate with bad outcomes. This study will build upon preliminary findings from our laboratory that define good postural alignment on theoretical grounds. The investigators will measure motion capture and muscle activation patterns during simple postural alignment tasks before and after 1) a corrective exercise intervention, or 2) a control intervention based designed to inhibit superficial muscle tension. The corrective exercise intervention is designed to counteract the natural patterns in which the human skeleton tends to collapse from a standing position under the influence of gravity. The control intervention consists of passive, partner-assisted stretching. Regardless of initial assignment, all participants will crossover (i.e. switch interventions) and repeat the study procedures after a 1-week washout period. Behavioral indicators of movement and nervous system coordination will be used to quantify alignment before and after exercise, as well as the consistency of those alignment patterns with theoretically-defined standards. The knowledge gained from this study will contribute to evidence-based definitions of healthy postural alignment and help identify effective interventions by which clinicians can promote good posture.

Conditions

• Posture
• Musculoskeletal Equilibrium
• Electromyography
• Kinematics

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
OTHER	Exercise Then Stretch	This arm (sequence) will perform an anti-gravity kinetic chain intervention and then a passive, partner-assisted stretching intervention, separated by a one-week washout period.
OTHER	Stretch Then Exercise	This arm (sequence) will perform a passive, partner-assisted stretching intervention and then an anti-gravity kinetic chain intervention , separated by a one-week washout period.

Timeline

• Start date: 2022-10-25
• Primary completion: 2023-05-01
• Completion: 2023-05-01
• First posted: 2022-11-08
• Last updated: 2022-11-08

Locations

1 site across 1 country: United States