Novel Method of Measuring Pelvic Floor Muscle Motion May Improve Accessibility of Pelvic Floor Muscle Coordination Training

Pelvic floor muscle ultrasound is an important clinical tool for improving motor coordination and even strength. Although the gold standard approach involves transperineal probe placement, this is not always feasible with sensitive populations, requires privacy owing to probe placement, and additional sonography training. This article introduces a novel transabdominal method for measuring pelvic floor muscle motion that incorporates a reference point within the bladder. The hypothesis is that the novel measurement will correlate positively with transperineal measurements.

A total of 55 women (15 nulliparous, 40 parous; 20 continent, 35 incontinent) performed pelvic floor muscle contraction and strain. Transabdominal ultrasound measured bladder diagonal length (BDL) and transperineal ultrasound measured bladder neck height (BNH), levator plate length (LPL), and levator plate angle (LPA). Spearman’s test measured the correlation between the measurement outcomes and an independent t test compared outcomes based on parity and stress urinary incontinence symptom status.

Spearman’s correlation showed moderate positive correlations between the pelvic floor measurements for both tasks, which reduced slightly when grouping by parity and symptom status. Group differences were significant for BDL during the muscle contraction, factoring in SUI symptoms (p = 0.019) and parity status (p = 0.005) and LPL during contraction, factoring in parity status (p = 0.033).

BDL correlates with BNH, LPL, and LPA with slightly reduced correlation when factoring in parity and continence status. The advantages of the method include accessibility for sensitive populations, nontraditional positions due to the anatomical reference point, functional locations due to limited privacy needs, and minimal training required for pelvic floor therapists to incorporate into rehabilitation.