الفهرس 
Title : Effect of prayer (salat) positions versus specific stretching exercises on electromyographic activity of erector spinae muscle
AbstractOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
Background: Salat is the prayer practiced by most of Muslims for five times a day and it involves several physical motions, namely standing, bowing and prostration. Benefits of salat from the spiritual point of view have been discussed at length by religious scholars. However, there is still little discussion on the salat{u2019}s benefit from science perspective even though it can be seen that performing salat is like performing slow and moderate exercise. The purpose: this study was conducted to investigate the effect of salat movements versus specific stretching exercises on electromyographic activity of erector spinae muscle. Material and methods: Thirty subjects of both gender (17 males and 13 females) with age ranging from 19 to 25 years voluntarily participated in this study. They were assigned in one group, each subject was asked to assume five different positions,1) 45 degrees bowing), 2) bowing 3) prostration 4) long sitting bent-over back stretch and 5) double knee to chest stretch. The myoelectric activity of right and left erector spinae muscle was recorded and analyzed. Results: The univariate tests of repeated measure MANOVA revealed that there were significant differences in the mean values of electromyographic activity of right and left erecter spinea muscle among different positions (F=77.322, P=0.0001) and (F=77.170, P=0.0001) respectively. Conclusion: Salat movements (Bowing and Prostration) are more advantageous than specific stretching exercises on decreasing erector spinae muscle myoelectrical activities. This indicates that subjects performing everyday prayer has the benefit of stretching effect on their erector spinae muscle. It may improve musculoskeletal system in both normal and subjects with non-specific low back pain receives stretching exercises as part of their rehabilitation program