Effects of Upper Limb Elevation Exercise Load on Thoracic and Lumbar Spine Movement in Healthy Adult Males

Key Points

• To clarify how varying loads during upper limb elevation exercises influence spinal movement in healthy males.
• Fifteen healthy males performed shoulder flexion exercises at 0 kg, 0.5 kg, 1.0 kg, and 2.0 kg loads.
• Two-dimensional angle analysis was conducted on still images captured from video at various degrees of shoulder flexion.
• Angles of the thoracic, thoracolumbar junction, and lumbar spine were calculated.
• At 0.5 kg, thoracic angle changes were minimal across shoulder flexion from 15° to 90°.
• At 1.0 kg and 2.0 kg, thoracic and lumbar angles changed with increased shoulder flexion, with lumbar movement direction varying at certain angles.
• No changes were observed at the thoracolumbar junction across all conditions.