Talk:Transverse abdominal muscle

Spelling or Latin clarification

The term "transverse abdominus" occurs exactly once in the article - is it a synonym or misspelling for transversus abdominis, or something else? Peter Grey (talk) 17:13, 16 October 2008 (UTC)

The Transverse Abdominis Muscle Cannot Be Isolated and Strengthened Apart From the Other Muscles in the Abdominal Wall

The paragraph on "Exercise" is incomplete and misleading.
Professor Stuart McGill (Director of the Spine Biomechanics Lab, Un. of Waterloo, Ontario) asserts in his two books that focusing on "isolating" the TrA is a myth and a waste of time.

Key references are in his two books:
- Low Back Disorders (2d ed. 2007), Section "Stability Myths, Facts and Clinical Implications", p. 119-121
- Ultimate Back Fitness & Performance (4th ed., 2009), Section "The Special Case of Transverse Abdominis", p. 119-121

More explicitly, Prof. Stuart McGill explains that:
- No single muscle in the abdominal wall and the lower back is predominant for enhancing spine stability. All core muscles contribute in different ways at different times according to the loading task. Any of those muscles can become the most important stabilizer for a given task at some instance in time.
Emphasizing the multifidus and transverse abdominis is a misinterpretation by the clinical community of the report of EMG onset delay in the Transverse abdominis by Dr. Hodges (1999) in the case of one single task (rapid arm raise). Other studies have shown that many other muscles exhibit EMG onset delay during the same task (Silfies & al, 2009), and that all torso muscles have perturbed onsets during sudden loading events (Cholewicki & al, 2002).

Prof. McGill asserts that recommended exercises don't isolate TrA, nor multifidus, nor any other muscle, but that all abdominal muscles are involved. Claiming that TrA is a superior spine stabilizer has no supporting scientific evidence. In fact, among core muscles, quadratus lumborum, the glutei, and latissimus dorsi contribute far more to stability and performance. Iit is the total pattern of all abdominal and extensor muscles that determines spine stability.

Prof. McGill underlines that the recent literature has been polluted with the recommendation to "isolate" and "strengthen" the TrA. The need for "training the TrA" to enhance performance, for instance by "hollowing" the abdomen, has become a myth freely circulating among the clinical community. This is another case where specific limited research findings have been simplified in transmission by science journalists and misinterpreted by the media, the fitness literature and profession. Trainers are eager to add a new easy fix to their range of exercises promising stability that seems especially appealing because of its unusual character.

Prof. McGill has established in his Spine biomechanics lab that "bracing" — a moderate stiffening of all the abdominal wall muscles together (transverse abdominis, internal and external obliques, and rectus abdominis) — also activates at the same time the back muscles, and thus forms a natural stiffening girdle essential to spine stability.
"Stabilization exercises" are those that groove the motor and motion patterns that ensure stability, (McGill 2001). Practicing and perfecting the "hip hinge" to prevent flexing the lumbar spine is for instance one such key exercise. Endurance is developed through repetition, and strength, through progression of loads.
11:24, 8 July 2010 (UTC)ROO BOOKAROO ([[User talk:ROO BOOKAROO|

Contradiction Tag ?

The discussions above fail to show where there is a contradiction in the article. Was it the name of the muscle? The exercising of the muscle? Tag deleted. --S. Rich (talk) 22:49, 21 February 2011 (UTC)