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. 2024 Sep 15;9(3):164.
doi: 10.3390/jfmk9030164.

Functional Tests of the Abdominal Wall Muscles in Normal Subjects and in Patients with Diastasis and Oblique Inguinal Hernias in a Pilot Study

Dmitry Skvortsov  1 , Andrei Cherepanin  1 , Yulia Fadeeva  1 , Andrey Timonin  2 , Nataly Nosenko  1   2
Affiliations

Functional Tests of the Abdominal Wall Muscles in Normal Subjects and in Patients with Diastasis and Oblique Inguinal Hernias in a Pilot Study

Dmitry Skvortsov et al. J Funct Morphol Kinesiol. .

Abstract

Objectives: To identify typical patterns of abdominal wall muscle activation in patients with diastasis recti and inguinal hernias compared to controls during the Valsalva maneuver, voluntary coughing, and physical activity.

Methods: The study included 15 subjects: 5 with diastasis recti, 4 with inguinal hernias, and 6 healthy controls. The functions of rectus abdominis (RA) and external oblique (OE) muscles were measured by surface electromyography (sEMG). Using ultrasound, the thicknesses of the RA, OE, internal oblique (IO), and transversus abdominis (TA) muscles were assessed as well as the echo intensity (EI) of RA and OE.

Results: We found a significant effect of the type of abdominal wall pathology on the maximum sEMG amplitude (p = 0.005). There was a reliable trend in maximum sEMG amplitude, with the highest one in diastasis recti and a significantly lower one in inguinal hernias. Duncan's test showed a significant difference in muscle thickness, both on the right and left sides, between patients with diastasis and controls, but only on the left side between patients with diastasis and those with inguinal hernia (p < 0.05).

Conclusions: The abdominal wall pathology results in a change in the function and structure of the abdominal muscles, which can be detected using electromyography and ultrasound examination. The presence of diastasis recti is accompanied by an increase in bioelectrical activity and a decrease in thickness.

Keywords: abdominal hernia; electromyography; functional test; ultrasound investigation.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Samples of EMG activity: the three consecutive excitations on the left are the Cough Test and the three consecutive excitations on the right are the Head Lift Test. The upper channel is the right rectus abdominis, the second from the top is the right obliquus externus, the third from the top is the left rectus abdominis, and the lower is the left obliquus externus.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Ultrasound examination of muscles (left) and EMG examination (right).
Figure 3
Figure 3
Native EMG (left) and measured parameters (right). Where are “A”—amplitude (μV), “T”—time (ms).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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