Larissa Carvalho Pereira

Is there correlation between electromyography and digital palpation as means of measuring pelvic floor muscle contractility in nulliparous, pregnant, and postpartum women?†‡§¶

The continence mechanisms depend on the integrity of the pelvic floor muscles. It is therefore important to find simple, reliable, and safe methods to assess its contractility in a clinical setting. This study aims to investigate if digital palpation of the pelvic floor muscles presents correlation with its electromyographic activity.

Impact of delivery mode on electromyographic activity of pelvic floor: comparative prospective study.

Several studies evidenced the association between pregnancy, mode of delivery and genitourinary symptoms. However, there are still controversies about the role of mode of delivery in the prevention or aggravation of these symptoms. This study aimed to compare the impact of three distinct modes of delivery on pelvic floor muscle contractility.

Are transversus abdominis/oblique internal and pelvic floor muscles coactivated during pregnancy and postpartum?

The aim of this study was to simultaneously evaluate both transversus abdominis/internal oblique (Tra/IO) and pelvic floor muscles (PFM) during isometric exercises in nulliparous, pregnant, and postpartum women.

Pelvic floor muscle training program increases muscular contractility during first pregnancy and postpartum: electromyographic study.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of a training program over both pelvic floor muscles contractility and urinary symptoms in primigravid pregnant and postpartum primiparous women.

A pelvic floor muscle training program in postmenopausal women: A randomized controlled trial

OBJECTIVES The purpose of this study was to investigate if a specific pelvic floor muscle training (PFMT) program effectively increases pelvic floor muscle (PFM) contractility and decreases anterior pelvic organ prolapse (POP) as well as urogynecological symptoms, in postmenopausal women. The mean outcome measure of this study was the pelvic floor surface electromyography (sEMG) activity. STUDY DESIGN A clinical, randomized, blinded-assessor and controlled study was conducted with 46 postmenopausal women. Thirty women completed this study (mean age of 65.93 years), divided into two groups: Treatment Group - TG (n=18) and Control Group - CG (n=12). The evaluation was carried out using digital palpation, sEMG, pelvic organ prolapse quantification (POP-Q) as well as validated questionnaires by the International Consultation on Incontinence Questionnaires to investigate urogynecological symptoms. The treatment protocol consisted of 12 group sessions, twice a week, with 30 min of duration each. These data were then submitted to statistical analyses by the Statistical Analysis System for Windows software, with a significance level of 5%. RESULTS The pelvic floor muscle contractility increased after PFMT, evaluated by sEMG (p=0.003) and digital palpation (p=0.001), accompanied by a decrease in urinary symptoms (p<0.001 for ICIQ-OAB scores e 0.036 for ICIQ UI-SF) as well as anterior pelvic organ prolapse (p=0.03). CONCLUSION This preliminary study suggests that the applied PFMT program could be an effective way to increase PFM contractility, as well as to decrease both anterior pelvic organ prolapse and urinary symptoms, in postmenopausal women.

Electromyographic pelvic floor activity: Is there impact during the female life cycle?

To evaluate the pelvic floor muscle (PFM) electromyographic activity in different phases of the female life cycle, correlating electromyographic activity with age, Body Mass Index (BMI), parity as well as the presence and severity of urinary symptoms.