OBJECTIVE To evaluate pelvic floor muscle strength before and after vaginal birth. DESIGN Prospective repeated measures study. SETTING Main district hospital. POPULATION Fifty-five women: 25 primiparae and 20 multiparae following vaginal birth, and 10 women following elective caesarean delivery as a control group. METHODS Pelvic muscle strength was evaluated by palpation, perineometry a...

BACKGROUND Pelvic floor muscle training is effective and recommended as first-line therapy for female patients with stress urinary incontinence. However, standard pelvic floor physiotherapy concentrates on voluntary contractions even though the situations provoking stress urinary incontinence (for example, sneezing, coughing, running) require involuntary fast reflexive pelvic floor muscle contr...

OBJECTIVE To validate the device and investigate the effect of this device on symptoms, quality of life, and pelvic floor muscle strength. MATERIAL AND METHOD The device was designed to measure vaginal pressure changes using air-pressure balloon and abdominal wall muscle activities using surface electromyography. To test the accuracy of the device, for vaginal pressure measurement, a Mercury ...

OBJECTIVE Combined spinal-epidural analgesia (CSEA) is sometimes used for difficult births, but whether it contributes to postpartum pelvic muscle disorder is unclear. This randomized controlled trial examined whether CSEA given during labor affects the electrophysiological index of postpartum pelvic floor muscle function. METHODS A consecutive sample of primiparous women who delivered vagina...

Question: Does pelvic floor muscle training reverse pelvic organ prolapse and improve symptoms in women with pelvic organ prolapse? Design: Randomised, controlled trial with concealed allocation and blinded outcome assessment. Setting: A university hospital and physiotherapy clinic in Norway. Participants: Women with pelvic organ prolapse were included. Key exclusion criteria were pelvic organ ...

Pelvic floor muscles are multilayered muscle complex that forms the base of the abdominal-pelvic cavity and contribute to pelvic contents support 1 . Widely described in literature, the delivery is considered responsible for many urogynaecological dysfunctions 2 . The aim of this study is to compare pelvic floor electrical activity between nulliparous and postpartum women. And also investigate,...

PURPOSE to evaluate the prevalence of urinary symptoms and association between pelvic floor muscle function and urinary symptoms in primiparous women 60 days after vaginal delivery with episiotomy and cesarean section after labor. METHODS a cross-sectional analysis was conducted on women from an out patient clinic in São Paulo state, Brazil, 60 days after delivery. Pelvic floor muscle functio...

Ultrasound imaging is rapidly replacing radiological methods in the investigation of pelvic floor disorders. Transrectal, transvaginal/introital and transperineal/translabial methods are being employed, with the latter probably the most widespread due to ease of use and availability of equipment. Position and mobility of the bladder neck, bladder wall thickness, pelvic floor muscle activity and...