The effect of core muscle fatigue on static and dynamic balance and endurance of athletic women

Fatigue is one of the factors that can reduce coordination and muscle activity. Since the core muscles of the body are essential to create a stable surface for proper limb movements, core muscles fatigue may affect the activities of human, especially athletes. The participants of this study were 30 female students majoring physical education. In the first session, the participants performed the balance and strength tests (static and dynamic) in the normal condition (no fatigue). In the second session, core fatigue exercises and immediately after that, the static and dynamic balance tests were performed by the participants. In the third session, athletes participated in the core fatigue protocol and then immediately performed trunk muscle endurance tests. Paired t-test was used to compare the results before and after fatigue. The results showed that the core muscle fatigue protocol significantly reduced the scores of the static, dynamic and endurance balance tests in the participants (p<0.05). The results of the present study suggested that the exercises which improve the stability of core muscles and also increase their ability to cope with fatigue can be used by trainers as a method for prevention of injury.