The effect of motor control training on abdominal muscle contraction during simulated weight bearing in elite cricketers

Objectives: To investigate whether motor control training alters automatic contraction of abdominal muscles in elite cricketers with low back pain (LBP) during performance of a simulated unilateral weight bearing task. Design: Clinical trial. Methods: 26 male elite-cricketers attended a 13-week cricket training camp. Prior to the camp, participants were allocated to a LBP or asymptomatic group. Real-time ultrasound imaging was used to assess automatic abdominal muscle response to axial loading. During the camp, the LBP group performed a staged motor control training program. Following the camp, the automatic response of the abdominal muscles was re-assessed. Results: At pre-camp assessment, when participants were axially loaded with 25% of their own body weight, the LBP group showed a 15.5% thicker internal oblique (IO) muscle compared to the asymptomatic group (p = 0.009). The post-camp assessment showed that participants in the LBP group demonstrated less contraction of the 10 muscle in response to axial loading compared with the asymptomatic group. A trend was found in the automatic recruitment pattern of the transversus abdominis (p = 0.08). Conclusions: Motor control training normalized excessive contraction of abdominal muscles in response to a low load task. This may be a useful strategy for rehabilitation of cricketers with LBP. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.