The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of different hip joint postures on electromyographic activity of selected lower limb muscles during squat's movement. Electromyographic activity of selected lower limb muscles of 15 healthy male students was recorded while performing a squat with neutral, 15°, 30°, 45° external and internal rotation of the hip. Friedman's nonparametric test was used to compare muscle activation at different angles of the hip rotation and the Wilcoxon test was used to determine within-group differences. The results of this study showed no significant difference in the activity of Vastus medialis (p = 0.052), Vastus lateralis (p = 0.102) and tensor fasciae lata (p = 0.193) in squat between different hip joint angles, but Significant differences were observed in gluteus medius muscle activation (p = 0.001) and biceps femoris (p = 0.015) in squat between different hip joint angles. Also, the results of this study showed that gluteus medius to tensor fascia lata activation ratio was significant in squat between different hip joint angles. squat with the external hip angles can be considered as an effective method to increase gluteus medius activation and gluteus medius to the tensor fasciae latae activation ratio. On the other hand, 45 ° external and 30 ° internal hip angles can be considered as an effective method to increase the biceps femoris activation.

Keywords: Surface electromyography, Squat, Hip rotation

Full-Text [PDF 704 kb]   (601 Downloads)