Balance of hip and trunk muscle activity is associated with increased anterior pelvic tilt during prone hip extension

Prone hip extension has been used as a self-perturbation task to test the stability of the lumbopelvic region. However, the relationship between recruitment patterns in the hip and trunk muscles and lumbopelvic kinematics remains unknown. The present study aimed to examine if the balance of hip and trunk muscle activities are related to pelvic motion and low back muscle activity during prone hip extension. Sixteen healthy participants performed prone hip extension from 30° of hip flexion to 10° of hip extension. Surface electromyography (of the gluteus maximus, semitendinosus, rectus femoris, tensor fasciae latae, multifidus, and erector spinae) and pelvic kinematic measurements were collected. Results showed that increased activity of the hip flexor (tensor fasciae latae) relative to that of hip extensors (gluteus maximus and semitendinosus) was significantly associated with increased anterior pelvic tilt during hip extension (r = 0.52). Increased anterior pelvic tilt was also significantly related to the delayed onset timing of the contralateral and ipsilateral multifidus (r = 0.57, r = 0.53) and contralateral erector spinae (r = 0.63). Additionally, the decrease of the gluteus maximus activity relative to the semitendinosus was significantly related to increased muscle activity of the ipsilateral erector spinae (r = −0.57). These results indicate that imbalance between the agonist and antagonist hip muscles and delayed trunk muscle onset would increase motion in the lumbopelvic region.