earticle

영어

Vojta reflex locomotion is important to main upright posture through stimulation of breast zone to patient with cerebral palsy. However, ap-plication in other diseases is no investigated. So, we determined the ef-fects of stimulation of the breast zone on trunk stability in healthy indi-viduals. Fourteen young healthy adults (7 males and 7 females) volun-tarily participated in this study. The subjects were randomly divided into an experimental group (breast zone) and control group (arbitrary point). All groups were stimulated for 5 min on the left and right sides, respec-tively, for a total 10 times. We used the thickness of the external oblique abdominal muscle (EO), the internal oblique abdominal muscle, the transversus abdominis muscle (TrA), and the rectus abdominis muscles, as well as the area of the diaphragm by using ultrasonography. In the experimental group, the thickness of the TrA significantly increased during stimulation (P<0.05) while the thickness of the EO significantly decreased (P<0.05). Also, the area of diaphragm in inspiration was sig-nificantly different (P<0.05). Therefore, stimulation of the breast zone may be effective to improve trunk stability through activation of the TrA muscle and the diaphragm.