Abstract
Purpose: Although multi-directional reaching exercises are commonly used clinically, the effects of specific movement directions on the muscle systems of the lower extremities have not been explored. We therefore investigated lower extremity muscle activity during reaching exercises with different sagittal and horizontal plane movements. Methods: The surface electromyography responses of the bilateral rectus femoris, tibialis anterior, peroneus longus, and gastrocnemius muscles were measured during reaching exercises in three directions in the horizontal plane (neutral, $45^{\circ}$ horizontal shoulder adduction, and $45^{\circ}$ abduction) and three directions in the sagittal plane (neutral, $120^{\circ}$ flexion, and $60^{\circ}$ flexion). A total of 20 healthy, physically active participants completed six sets of reaching exercises. Two-way repeated ANOVA was performed: body side (ipsilateral and contralateral) was set as the intra-subject factor and direction of reach as the inter-subject factor. Results: Reaching at $45^{\circ}$ horizontal shoulder adduction significantly increased the activity of the contralateral rectus femoris and gastrocnemius muscles, while $45^{\circ}$ horizontal shoulder abduction activated the ipsilateral rectus femoris and gastrocnemius muscles. The rectus femoris activity was significantly higher with reaching at a $120^{\circ}$ shoulder flexion compared to the other conditions. The gastrocnemius activity decreased significantly as the shoulder elevation angle increased from $60^{\circ}$ to $120^{\circ}$. Conclusion: Our results suggest that multi-directional reaching stimulates the lower extremity muscles depending on the movement direction. The muscles acting on two different joints responded to the changes in reaching direction, whereas the muscles acting on one joint were not activated with changes in reaching direction.