The immediate effects of two pilates exercises with and without a foam roller on abdominal muscle activity

Pilates can be defined as exercises which are floor-based or use specialized equipment to provide resistance. The use of foam rollers (FR) have been purported to improve the recruitment of core muscles by creating an unstable surface, providing improvements to balance, posture and functional recovery in daily activities. However, there is a paucity of studies exploring the use of FR as an unstable surface. The aim of this study was to analyze the acute effects on the recruitment of core muscles during two Pilates exercises, a single leg stretch (SL) and single straight leg stretch (SS), on the ground and using a FR as an unstable surface. Thirty women aged between 25 and 35 years old who had not previously practiced Pilates participated in this study. Surface EMG signals were collected from rectus abdominis (RA) and external oblique (EO) muscles during an isometric contraction lasting 30 s during the exercises. Two-factor Repeated Measures ANOVA tests with post hoc pairwise comparisons were used to investigate the muscle activity between the two stretching exercises when performed on the ground and using the FR. No significant interaction effects were seen between the two exercises and positions, and no main effects were seen for either factor. These findings do not indicate the influence of the surface (ground versus FR) or exercise (SL versus SS) on the muscle activity of the rectus abdominis and external oblique muscles when considering the immediate effects. Future studies should consider the effects over a longer time period.