Effects of equine riding on static and dynamic mechanical contraction of the thighs and trunk muscles in inactive women.

This research focuses on the impact of equine riding on the static and dynamic mechanical contraction of thighs and trunk muscles in inactive women. It concludes that while there was no significant effect in static muscle tests, equine riding led to marked improvements in the dynamic mechanical properties of these major muscle groups that are linked to spinal alignment.

Study Design and Methodology

• The study featured 30 women with a mean age of around 21 years. These participants were randomly assigned to two groups: an equine group (EQG, consisting of 15 participants) and a control group (CON, also with 15 participants).
• This research compared the effects of equine riding on the muscle contraction properties of two major groups: the thighs and the trunk.
• The researchers measured these properties using two different means; a tensiomyography (which is a static muscle tester) and an isokinetic device (which is a dynamic muscle tester).

Data Analysis

• To analyze the findings, the researchers utilized a 2-way between-groups multivariate analysis of covariance.
• The EQG and CON’s body weights were used as covariates in this analysis.
• The primary goal of this analysis was to see if equine riding had any statistically significant impact on the mechanical quantification of the thighs and trunk muscles.

Findings

• The results of the study indicated that the benefits of 8 weeks of equine riding were not significantly evident in the static muscle test.
• However, the dynamic muscle test displayed significant improvements in hip extensor/flexor in both dominant and non-dominant legs, the hip abductor/adductor of the dominant leg, and in the trunk extensor in the EQG.
• These improvements contrasted with the control group, where no such changes were observed.

Conclusions

• The findings of this study establish that although equine riding did not seem to impact the static muscle properties of inactive women, it did stimulate improvements in dynamic mechanical properties in the thighs and trunk muscles.
• This is important as these muscles play significant roles in maintaining spinal alignment. Thus the study suggests equine riding could potentially benefit this aspect of musculoskeletal health in inactive women.