Transient effect of core stability exercises on postural sway during quiet standing

This study aimed to examine the transient effect of core stability exercises on the motion of the center of pressure (COP) during quiet standing. Seventeen healthy young adults (7 women and 10 men) were required to perform elbow-toe and hand-heel exercises for 30 seconds in both cases. Before and 1 minute after the execution of the 2 exercises, the subjects repeated 30 seconds of quiet standing with eyes closed 3 times on a force platform with intervals of 10 seconds between trials. The intervention of the 2 exercises induced significant decreases in the maximal range of mediolateral sway (34.7 +/- 7.0 mm to 30.2 +/- 6.1 mm, p = 0.0001), standard deviation of mediolateral sway (6.4 +/- 1.2 mm to 5.8 +/- 1.0 mm, p = 0.0006), the mean speed of anteroposterior sway (14.1 +/- 2.5 mm per second to 13.2 +/- 2.3 mm per second, p = 0.004), mean speed of mediolateral sway (22.8 +/- 2.8 mm per second to 20.9 +/- 2.3 mm per second, p = 0.004), sway speed (29.3 +/- 3.9 mm per second to 27.0 +/- 3.2 mm per second, p = 0.002), and sweep speed (73.2 +/- 23.4 mm per second to 62.0 +/- 19.7 mm per second, p = 0.005) of the COP trajectory, calculated from the force platform data. This result indicates that the practice of core stability exercises transiently decreases the area of the COP trajectory and its mediolateral and total excursions during quiet standing with the eyes closed. Performing core stability exercises as part of warm-up programs may be useful for temporarily improving postural control during standing in main exercise programs.