# Neuromuscular control strategies underpinning motor expertise in yoga: a biomechanical analysis of twisting poses in expert and novice practitioners

## TL;DR

This study explores how expert and novice yoga practitioners perform twisting poses, finding that motor expertise is reflected in neuromuscular control rather than visible movement.

## Contribution

The study reveals that motor expertise in yoga is characterized by optimized neuromuscular strategies, not visible performance differences.

## Key findings

- Experts showed higher rectus abdominis activation, indicating targeted core stabilization.
- Lumbar co-activation was higher in a less demanding pose, suggesting non-linear coordination efficiency.

## Abstract

This study investigates the neuromuscular control strategies and motor expertise underlying complex yoga movements by comparing expert (n = 17) and novice (n = 17) female practitioners during two twisting poses: the Standing Twist (ST) and the Semi-Triangle Twist (STT).

Utilizing musculoskeletal modeling and surface electromyography (sEMG), we examined how internal coordination adapts to varying task demands.

While the STT imposed significantly higher mechanical demands—evidenced by greater peak trunk rotation (p < 0.001), higher peak moments (p = 0.020), and increased erector spinae activation—the external kinematic performance did not distinguish experts from novices. Crucially, expertise was manifested at the neuromuscular level: experts exhibited a refined recruitment pattern characterized by higher rectus abdominis activation compared to novices (unadjusted p < 0.05), suggesting a more targeted core stabilization strategy. Furthermore, the lower-load ST pose induced a significantly higher lumbar co-activation ratio (p = 0.015), indicating that muscular coordination efficiency is non-linearly related to task difficulty.

These findings suggest that motor expertise in yoga is not defined by observable movement outcomes, but by the optimization of internal motor representations and the strategic recruitment of musculature to manage spinal stability.