1 2357 137 VARYING ALIGNMENT AFFECTS LOWER EXTREMITY JOINT AND LIMB LOADING DURING YOGA'S TRIANGLE (TRIKONASANA) POSE. BACKGROUND: LIMITED BIOMECHANICAL DATA EXIST DESCRIBING HOW YOGA ASANAS (POSTURES) LOAD THE LIMBS AND JOINTS, AND LITTLE EVIDENCE-BASED RECOMMENDATIONS FOR YOGA INJURY PREVENTION ARE AVAILABLE. THIS STUDY AIMED TO ESTABLISH JOINT LOADING METRICS FOR AN INJURY-PRONE, YET COMMON YOGA POSE, THE TRIANGLE ASANA (TRIKONASANA) BY IDENTIFYING HOW STANCE WIDTH ADJUSTMENTS ALTER LOWER EXTREMITY LOADING. METHODS: EIGHTEEN YOGA PRACTITIONERS UNDERWENT 3D MOTION ANALYSIS WHILE PERFORMING TRIKONASANA WITH SELF-SELECTED (SS) STANCE WIDTH AND -30, -20, -10, +10, +20, AND +30% OF SS STANCE WIDTH. GROUND REACTION FORCES (GRFS), JOINT FORCES, AND JOINT MOMENTS WERE CALCULATED FOR THE LEADING AND TRAILING LIMB ANKLE, KNEE, AND HIP. ONE-WAY REPEATED-MEASURES ANALYSIS OF VARIANCE DETERMINED DIFFERENCES IN LOADING DUE TO STANCE WIDTH. RESULTS: GRFS, NET JOINT FORCES, AND NET JOINT MOMENTS WERE SIGNIFICANTLY AFFECTED BY STANCE WIDTH WHERE INCREASING STANCE WIDTH INCREASED LEADING LIMB LOADING BUT DECREASED TRAILING LIMB LOADING. CONCLUSIONS: ALTERING STANCE WIDTH OF TRIKONASANA INFLUENCES LOWER EXTREMITY LIMB LOADING, AND THESE LOADING RESPONSES WERE LIMB-DEPENDENT. YOGA PRACTITIONERS AND INSTRUCTORS CAN USE THIS INFORMATION TO OBJECTIVELY SUPPORT INCREASING OR DECREASING STANCE WIDTH TO REDUCE OR INCREASE LIMB LOADING ACCORDING TO THEIR GOALS OR TO MAKE ACCOMMODATIONS TO GROUPS SUCH AS BEGINNERS OR AT-RISK POPULATIONS FOR SAFER, MORE ACCESSIBLE YOGA PRACTICES. CUING A WIDER OR NARROWER STANCE WIDTH WILL NOT HAVE THE SAME EFFECT ON BOTH LIMBS. 2022 2 1654 30 MUSCLE UTILIZATION PATTERNS VARY BY SKILL LEVELS OF THE PRACTITIONERS ACROSS SPECIFIC YOGA POSES (ASANAS). OBJECTIVE: TO COMPARE MUSCLE ACTIVATION PATTERNS IN 14 DOMINANT SIDE MUSCLES DURING DIFFERENT YOGA POSES ACROSS THREE SKILL LEVELS. DESIGN: MIXED REPEATED-MEASURES DESCRIPTIVE STUDY. SETTING: UNIVERSITY NEUROMUSCULAR RESEARCH LABORATORY, MIAMI, US. PARTICIPANTS: A GROUP OF 36 YOGA PRACTITIONERS (9 M/27 F; MEAN +/- SD, 31.6 +/- 12.6 YEARS) WITH AT LEAST 3 MONTHS YOGA PRACTICE EXPERIENCE. INTERVENTIONS: EACH OF THE 11 SURYA NAMASKAR POSES A AND B WAS PERFORMED SEPARATELY FOR 15S AND THE SURFACE ELECTROMYOGRAPHY FOR 14 MUSCLES WERE RECORDED. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: NORMALIZED ROOT MEAN SQUARE OF THE ELECTROMYOGRAPHIC SIGNAL (NRMSEMG) FOR 14 MUSCLES (5 UPPER BODY, 4 TRUNK, 5 LOWER BODY). RESULTS: THERE WERE SIGNIFICANT MAIN EFFECTS OF POSE FOR ALL FOURTEEN MUSCLES EXCEPT MIDDLE TRAPEZIUS (P<.02) AND OF SKILL LEVEL FOR THE VASTUS MEDIALIS; P=.027). A SIGNIFICANT SKILL LEVEL X POSE INTERACTION EXISTED FOR FIVE MUSCLES (PECTORALIS MAJOR STERNAL HEAD, ANTERIOR DELTOID, MEDIAL DELTOID, UPPER RECTUS ABDOMINIS AND GASTROCNEMIUS LATERALIS; P<.05). POST HOC ANALYSES USING BONFERRONI COMPARISONS INDICATED THAT DIFFERENT POSES ACTIVATED SPECIFIC MUSCLE GROUPS; HOWEVER, THIS VARIED BY SKILL LEVEL. CONCLUSION: OUR RESULTS INDICATE THAT DIFFERENT POSES CAN PRODUCE SPECIFIC MUSCLE ACTIVATION PATTERNS WHICH MAY VARY DUE TO PRACTITIONERS' SKILL LEVELS. THIS INFORMATION CAN BE USED IN DESIGNING REHABILITATION AND TRAINING PROGRAMS AND FOR CUING DURING YOGA TRAINING. 2014 3 2358 30 VERBAL CUING IS NOT THE PATH TO ENLIGHTENMENT. PSYCHOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF A 10-SESSION HATHA YOGA PRACTICE. VERBAL INSTRUCTIONS PROVIDED DURING YOGA CLASSES CAN DIFFER SUBSTANTIALLY. YOGA INSTRUCTORS MIGHT CHOOSE TO FOCUS ON THE PHYSICAL ASPECTS OF YOGA (E.G., BY EMPHASIZING THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE POSES), OR THEY MIGHT TAKE A MORE SPIRITUAL APPROACH (E.G., BY MENTIONING ENERGY FLOW AND CHAKRAS). THE PRESENT STUDY INVESTIGATED THE EFFECTS OF VERBAL CUES DURING YOGA PRACTICE ON VARIOUS PSYCHOLOGICAL MEASURES. EIGHTY-FOUR FEMALE STUDENTS (22.0 +/- 3.80 YEARS) PARTICIPATED IN THE STUDY. TWO GROUPS ATTENDED A BEGINNER LEVEL HATHA YOGA COURSE IN WHICH PHYSICALLY IDENTICAL EXERCISE WAS ACCOMPANIED BY DIFFERENT VERBAL CUES. THE SO-CALLED "SPORT GROUP" (N = 27) RECEIVED INSTRUCTIONS REFERRING PRIMARILY TO THE PHYSICAL ASPECTS OF YOGA PRACTICE, WHILE THE "SPIRITUAL GROUP" (N = 23) WAS ADDITIONALLY PROVIDED WITH PHILOSOPHICAL AND SPIRITUAL INFORMATION. A CONTROL GROUP (N = 34) DID NOT RECEIVE ANY INTERVENTION. MINDFULNESS, BODY AWARENESS, SPIRITUALITY, AND AFFECT WERE ASSESSED 1 WEEK BEFORE AND AFTER THE TRAINING. 2 X 3 MIXED (TIME X INTERVENTION) ANOVAS DID NOT SHOW AN INTERACTION EFFECT FOR ANY OF THE VARIABLES. HOWEVER, WHEN THE TWO YOGA GROUPS WERE MERGED AND COMPARED TO THE CONTROL GROUP, WE FOUND THAT SPIRITUALITY INCREASED, AND NEGATIVE AFFECT DECREASED AMONG YOGA PARTICIPANTS. IN CONCLUSION, YOGA PRACTICE MIGHT INFLUENCE PSYCHOLOGICAL FUNCTIONING THROUGH ITS PHYSICAL COMPONENTS, INDEPENDENT OF THE STYLE OF VERBAL INSTRUCTIONS PROVIDED. 2020 4 552 32 CORE MUSCLE FUNCTION DURING SPECIFIC YOGA POSES. OBJECTIVE: TO ASSESS THE POTENTIAL USE OF 11 YOGA POSES IN SPECIFIC TRAINING AND REHABILITATION PROGRAMS VIA EXAMINATION OF THE MUSCLE ACTIVATION PATTERNS IN SELECTED TRUNK AND HIP MUSCLES. DESIGN: REPEATED-MEASURES DESCRIPTIVE STUDY. SETTING: UNIVERSITY LABORATORY, US. PARTICIPANTS: THIRTY HEALTHY YOGA PRACTITIONERS WITH MORE THAN 3 MONTHS YOGA PRACTICE EXPERIENCE (MEAN AGE+/-SD, 32.0+/-12.3 Y; 8 M/22 F) PARTICIPATED. INTERVENTIONS: SURFACE ELECTROMYOGRAPHIC SIGNALS OF UPPER RECTUS ABDOMINIS, LOWER RECTUS ABDOMINIS, LONGISSIMUS THORACIS, EXTERNAL OBLIQUE ABDOMINIS AND GLUTEUS MAXIMUM MUSCLE WERE RECORDED IN 11 YOGA POSES: HALFWAY LIFT, FORWARD FOLD, DOWNWARD FACING DOG, UPWARD FACING DOG, HIGH PLANK, LOW PLANK, CHAIR, MOUNTAIN WITH ARMS DOWN, MOUNTAIN WITH ARMS UP, WARRIOR 1 (BOTH SIDES). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: ROOT MEAN SQUARE VALUES OF EACH MUSCLE DURING EACH POSE, NORMALIZED BY THE MAXIMAL VOLUNTARY CONTRACTION. RESULTS: THERE WERE SIGNIFICANT MAIN EFFECTS OF POSE (P<.001) AND MUSCLE (P<.001), AND A SIGNIFICANT POSEXMUSCLE INTERACTION (P=.001). THE POST HOC ANALYSIS REVEALED UNIQUE PATTERNS FOR THE FIVE MUSCLES OF INTEREST FOR EACH OF THE 11 POSES (P<.024). CONCLUSIONS: VARIATIONS IN CORE MUSCLE FIRING PATTERNS DEPEND ON THE TRUNK AND PELVIC POSITIONS DURING THESE POSES. TRAINING PROGRAMS CAN BE DEVELOPED BY CHOOSING PARTICULAR POSES TO TARGET SPECIFIC CORE MUSCLES FOR ADDRESSING LOW BACK PAIN AND DECLINES IN PERFORMANCE. THE HIGH PLANK, LOW PLANK AND DOWNWARD FACING DOG POSES ARE EFFECTIVE FOR STRENGTHENING EXTERNAL OBLIQUE ABDOMINIS, CHAIR AND WARRIOR 1 POSES FOR TARGETING GLUTEUS MAXIMUM, AND CHAIR AND HALFWAY LIFT POSES FOR STRENGTHENING LONGISSIMUS THORACIS. AND THESE THREE MUSCLES COULD BE STRENGTHENED BY THE UPWARD FACING DOG POSE. 2014 5 626 19 DIFFERENCE IN MUSCLE ACTIVATION PATTERNS DURING HIGH-SPEED VERSUS STANDARD-SPEED YOGA: A RANDOMIZED SEQUENCE CROSSOVER STUDY. OBJECTIVES: TO COMPARE THE DIFFERENCE IN MUSCLE ACTIVATION BETWEEN HIGH-SPEED YOGA AND STANDARD-SPEED YOGA AND TO COMPARE MUSCLE ACTIVATION OF THE TRANSITIONS BETWEEN POSES AND THE HELD PHASES OF A YOGA POSE. DESIGN: RANDOMIZED SEQUENCE CROSSOVER TRIAL SETTING: A LABORATORY OF NEUROMUSCULAR RESEARCH AND ACTIVE AGING INTERVENTIONS: EIGHT MINUTES OF CONTINUOUS SUN SALUTATION B WAS PERFORMED, AT A HIGH SPEED VERSUS A STANDARD-SPEED, SEPARATELY. ELECTROMYOGRAPHY WAS USED TO QUANTIFY NORMALIZED MUSCLE ACTIVATION PATTERNS OF EIGHT UPPER AND LOWER BODY MUSCLES (PECTORALIS MAJOR, MEDIAL DELTOIDS, LATERAL HEAD OF THE TRICEPS, MIDDLE FIBERS OF THE TRAPEZIUS, VASTUS MEDIALIS, MEDIAL GASTROCNEMIUS, THORACIC EXTENSOR SPINAE, AND EXTERNAL OBLIQUES) DURING THE HIGH-SPEED AND STANDARD-SPEED YOGA PROTOCOLS. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: DIFFERENCE IN NORMALIZED MUSCLE ACTIVATION BETWEEN HIGH-SPEED YOGA AND STANDARD-SPEED YOGA. RESULTS: NORMALIZED MUSCLE ACTIVITY SIGNALS WERE SIGNIFICANTLY HIGHER IN ALL EIGHT MUSCLES DURING THE TRANSITION PHASES OF POSES COMPARED TO THE HELD PHASES (P<0.01). THERE WAS NO SIGNIFICANT INTERACTION BETWEEN SPEEDXPHASE; HOWEVER, GREATER NORMALIZED MUSCLE ACTIVITY WAS SEEN FOR HIGHSPEED YOGA ACROSS THE ENTIRE SESSION. CONCLUSIONS: OUR RESULTS SHOW THAT TRANSITIONS FROM ONE HELD PHASE OF A POSE TO ANOTHER PRODUCES HIGHER NORMALIZED MUSCLE ACTIVITY THAN THE HELD PHASES OF THE POSES AND THAT OVERALL ACTIVITY IS GREATER DURING HIGHSPEED YOGA THAN STANDARD-SPEED YOGA. THEREFORE, THE TRANSITION SPEED AND ASSOCIATED NUMBER OF POSES SHOULD BE CONSIDERED WHEN TARGETING SPECIFIC IMPROVEMENTS IN PERFORMANCE. 2017 6 58 29 A COMPARISON OF EMG OUTPUT OF FOUR LOWER EXTREMITY MUSCLES DURING SELECTED YOGA POSTURES. THE PURPOSE OF THIS STUDY WAS TO USE SURFACE ELECTROMYOGRAPHY (EMG) ANALYSIS TO EXAMINE THE MUSCLE ACTIVATION OF THE ANTERIOR TIBIALIS (TA), GASTROCNEMIUS (GA), RECTUS FEMORIS (RF) AND BICEPS FEMORIS (BF) MUSCLES DURING SEVERAL YOGA POSES: TREE POSE (VRKSASHANA), HALF MOON POSE (ARDHA CHANDRASANA) AND WARRIOR III (VIRABADRASANA) WHEN COMPARED TO A REST POSE (MOUNTAIN POSE). TEN HEALTHY FEMALES WITH MORE THAN 3 MONTHS OF CONTINUOUS YOGA EXPERIENCE WHO PRACTICED AT LEAST 1.5H PER WEEK WERE RECRUITED. EMG ACTIVITY WAS RECORDED FROM THE AFOREMENTIONED MUSCLES DURING MOUNTAIN POSE ("REST") FOR 30S, THREE TIMES. SUBJECTS THEN PERFORMED THE FOLLOWING YOGA POSES IN A RANDOMIZED SEQUENCE WHILE SURFACE EMG ACTIVITY WAS RECORDED: TREE POSE, HALF-MOON, AND WARRIOR III. EACH POSE WAS HELD FOR 20S TO 30S AND PERFORMED THREE TIMES. EMG DATA WERE BAND PASS FILTERED AND THE ROOT MEAN SQUARE (RMS) WAS OBTAINED. THE PEAK RMS OF EACH OF THE RESTING TRIALS WAS OBTAINED AND AVERAGED TO PRODUCE AN AVERAGE PEAK RESTING RMS VALUE. THE STUDY REVEALED SIGNIFICANTLY GREATER EMG ACTIVITY IN TA AND GA IN ALL THREE POSES WHEN COMPARED TO BF AND RF. BF PRODUCED GREATER EMG ACTIVITY THAN RF IN WARRIOR III. IN CONCLUSION, SINGLE LIMB YOGA POSES REQUIRE INCREASED USE OF THE ANKLE MUSCULATURE WHEN COMPARED TO THIGH MUSCULATURE. 2019 7 408 38 BIOMECHANICAL CHARACTERISTICS ON THE LOWER EXTREMITY OF THREE TYPICAL YOGA MANOEUVRES. THIS STUDY WAS AIMED AT EXPLORING THE BIOMECHANICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE LOWER EXTREMITY AMONGST THREE TYPICAL YOGA MANOEUVRES. A TOTAL OF THIRTEEN EXPERIENCED FEMALE YOGA PRACTITIONERS WERE RECRUITED IN THE CURRENT STUDY; THEY WERE ALL CERTIFIED WITH THE YOGA ALLIANCE. A THREE-DIMENSIONAL MOTION CAPTURE SYSTEM WITH 10 CAMERAS COMBINED WITH FOUR SYNCHRONISED FORCE PLATES WAS USED TO COLLECT KINEMATICS OF THE LOWER EXTREMITY AND GROUND REACTIVE FORCE WHILST THE PARTICIPANTS PERFORMED THE CRESCENT LUNGE POSE, WARRIOR II POSE, AND TRIANGLE POSE. ONE-WAY REPEATED ANOVA WAS USED IN EXPLORING THE DIFFERENCES AMONGST THE THREE YOGA MOVEMENTS, AND THE SIGNIFICANCE WAS SET TO ALPHA < 0.05. THE TRIANGLE POSE PERFORMED THE LARGEST RANGE OF MOTION (ROM) OF THE HIP (90.5 DEGREES +/- 22.9 DEGREES ), KNEE (68.8 DEGREES +/- 23.1 DEGREES ), AND ANKLE (46.4 DEGREES +/- 11.3 DEGREES ) IN THE SAGITTAL PLANE AND THE HIP (54.8 DEGREES +/- 6.5 DEGREES ), KNEE (42.4 DEGREES +/- 12.8 DEGREES ), AND ANKLE (4.8 DEGREES +/- 1.7 DEGREES ) IN THE FRONTAL PLANE AMONGST THE THREE MANOEUVRES (P < 0.05). NO SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCE WAS FOUND FOR THE HIP AND ANKLE JOINT MOMENT AMONGST THE THREE MANOEUVRES (P > 0.05). KNEE JOINT TRAVELLED INTO 9.5 DEGREES OF EXTENSION AND SLIGHT ADDUCTION OF 1.94 DEGREES WHILST EXPRESSING THE LARGEST KNEE JOINT ADDUCTION MOMENTS (0.30 +/- 0.22 NM/KG) IN THE TRIANGLE POSE. THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE ANGULAR IMPULSE OF THE LOWER LIMB JOINTS INDICATED THAT THE HIP JOINT CONTRIBUTED SIGNIFICANTLY THE MOST IN THE SAGITTAL AND FRONTAL PLANES OF THE THREE YOGA MANOEUVRES (P < 0.05), RANGING FROM 51.67% TO 70.56%. RESULTS INDICATED THAT TRIANGLE POSE MAY BE SUPERIOR TO THE OTHER TWO MANOEUVRES, WHICH IMPROVED HIP JOINT ROM, STRENGTH, AND DYNAMIC STABILITY. HOWEVER, KNEE INJURIES SUCH AS OSTEOARTHRITIS (OA) SHOULD BE CONSIDERED BECAUSE OF THE LARGE KNEE EXTENSOR ANGLE AND ADDUCTOR MOMENTS. 2021 8 1348 28 IDENTIFYING YOGA-BASED KNEE STRENGTHENING EXERCISES USING THE KNEE ADDUCTION MOMENT. BACKGROUND: THIS STUDY AIMED TO COMPARE MUSCLE ACTIVATIONS, CO-CONTRACTION INDICES, AND THE KNEE ADDUCTION MOMENT BETWEEN STATIC STANDING YOGA POSTURES TO IDENTIFY APPROPRIATE EXERCISES FOR KNEE OSTEOARTHRITIS. METHODS: HEALTHY YOUNG WOMEN (24.4 (5.4) YEARS, 23.1 (3.7) KG/M(2)) PARTICIPATED. PRIMARY OUTCOME VARIABLES WERE ELECTROMYOGRAPHIC ACTIVATIONS OF THE VASTUS LATERALIS, RECTUS FEMORIS, VASTUS MEDIALIS, BICEPS FEMORIS, AND SEMITENDINOSUS; CO-CONTRACTION BETWEEN THE BICEPS FEMORIS AND RECTUS FEMORIS, AND VASTUS LATERALIS AND VASTUS MEDIALIS; AND KNEE ADDUCTION MOMENTS OF BOTH LEGS DURING SIX STATIC, STANDING YOGA POSTURES (TWO SQUATTING POSTURES, TWO LUNGING POSTURES, A HAMSTRING STRETCH, AND A SINGLE-LEG BALANCE POSTURE). A TWO-FACTOR REPEATED MEASURES ANALYSIS OF VARIANCE WAS USED TO IDENTIFY DIFFERENCES IN MUSCLE AMPLITUDES, CO-CONTRACTIONS, AND KNEE ADDUCTION MOMENT BETWEEN POSTURES AND LEGS. FINDINGS: QUADRICEPS ACTIVATIONS WERE HIGHEST DURING SQUAT AND LUNGE POSTURES (P