The aim was to investigate possible relationships between activities of the individual muscles of the ventrolateral abdominal wall and the development of pressure within the abdominal cavity. Intra-muscular activity was recorded bilaterally from transversus abdominis, obliquus internus, obliquus externus and rectus abdominis with fine-wire electrodes guided into place using real-time ultrasound. Intra-abdominal pressure was measured intragastrically using a micro tip pressure transducer. Six males were studied during loading and movement tasks with varied levels of intra-abdominal pressure. During both maximal voluntary isometric trunk flexion and extension, transversus abdominis activity and intra-abdominal pressure remained constant, while all other abdominal muscles showed a marked reduction during extension. When maximal isometric trunk flexor or extensor torques were imposed upon a maximal Valsalva manoeuvre, transversus abdominis activity and intra-abdominal pressure remained comparable within and across conditions, whereas obliquus internus, obliquus externus and rectus abdominis activities either markedly increased (flexion) or decreased (extension). Trunk twisting movements showed reciprocal patterns of activity between the left and right sides of transversus abdominis, indicating an ability for torque development. During trunk flexion--extension, transversus abdominis showed less distinguished changes of activity possibly relating to a general stabilizing function. In varied pulsed Valsalva manoeuvres, changes in peak intra-abdominal pressure were correlated with mean amplitude electromyograms of all abdominal muscles, excluding rectus abdominis. It is concluded that the co-ordinative patterns shown between the muscles of the ventrolateral abdominal wall are task specific based upon demands of movement, torque and stabilization. It appears that transversus abdominis is the abdominal muscle whose activity is most consistently related to changes in intra-abdominal pressure.

The activation patterns of the psoas and iliacus muscles were investigated in 7 healthy adult subjects (4 men and 3 women) during a variety of motor tasks in standing, sitting and lying. Myoelectric activity was recorded simultaneously from the 2 muscles using thin wire electrodes inserted under guidance of high‐resolution ultrasound. In general, both muscles were coactivated, albeit to different relative levels, particularly when hip flexor torque was required. Selective activation of the iliacus could, however, be seen to stabilize the pelvis in contralateral hip extension during standing. Psoas was found to be selectively involved in sitting with a straight back and in contralateral loading situations requiring stabilization of the spine in the frontal plane. During training exercises from a supine position, such as sit‐ups, the contribution of the psoas and iliacus muscles could be varied by changing the range of motion as well as the position and support for the legs. Thus, the 2 anatomically different muscles of the iliopsoas complex were shown to have individual and taskspecific activation patterns depending on the particular demands for stability and movement at the lumbar spine, pelvis and hip.

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During trunk rotations the activity patterns for various trunk muscles could drastically change, and even be the opposite, between the two body sides, within the same type of task, depending on several factors such as initial position, effort level, sitting or standing, and external shoulder resistance.

Ankle plantar flexor muscles are active in the stance phase of walking to propel the body forward. Increasing walking speed requires increased plantar flexor excitation, frequently assessed using surface electromyography (EMG). Despite its popularity, validity of surface EMG applied on shank muscles is mostly unclear. Thus, we examined the agreement between surface and intramuscular EMG at a range of walking speeds. Ten participants walked overground at slow, preferred, fast, and maximum walking speeds (1.01 ± 0.13, 1.43 ± 0.19, 1.84 ± 0.23, and 2.20 ± 0.38 m s–1, respectively) while surface and fine-wire EMG activities of flexor hallucis longus (FHL), soleus (SOL), medial gastrocnemius (MG) and lateral gastrocnemius (LG), and tibialis anterior (TA) muscles were recorded. Surface and intramuscular peak-normalised EMG amplitudes were compared for each muscle and speed across the stance phase using Statistical Parametric Mapping. In FHL, we found differences around peak activity at all speeds except fast. There was no difference in MG at any speed or in LG at slow and preferred speeds. For SOL and LG, differences were seen in the push-off phase at fast and maximum walking speeds. In SOL and TA, surface EMG registered activity during phases in which intramuscular EMG indicated inactivity. Our results suggest that surface EMG is generally a suitable method to measure MG and LG EMG activity across several walking speeds. Minimising cross-talk in FHL remains challenging. Furthermore, SOL and TA muscle onset/offset defined by surface EMG should be interpreted cautiously. These findings should be considered when recording and interpreting surface EMG of shank muscles in walking.