| Many people with sedentary occupations develop back pain due to biomechanics that can lead to spinal instability. The purpose of this study was to test the effect of stability ball training in increasing spinal stability as measured by the static back endurance and side bridge tests in this population. Twenty participants were randomly assigned to an experimental group (n = 10) that performed stability ball exercises for 30 min twice per week for 10 weeks or a control group (n = 10). ANOVA was used to test for differences in spinal stability between the groups at weeks one, three and thirteen. The experimental group improved significantly (p < .05) on the static back endurance test from week 1 (149.3 +/- 72.3 s) to week 13 (194.6 +/- 56.7 s), while the control group decreased on the same variable. The experimental group (71.3 +/- 59.7 s) exceeded the control group (51.6 +/- 35.9 s) at week 13 on the side bridge test as well, however the difference was not statistically significant. In conclusion, stability ball training appears to provide some improvement in spinal stability, especially in the sagittal plane. |
