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. 2019 Dec 8:25:9357-9363.
doi: 10.12659/MSM.920819.

Investigation of Electromyographic Activity of Pelvic Floor Muscles in Different Body Positions to Prevent Urinary Incontinence

Kyeongjin Lee  1
Affiliations

Investigation of Electromyographic Activity of Pelvic Floor Muscles in Different Body Positions to Prevent Urinary Incontinence

Kyeongjin Lee. Med Sci Monit. .

Abstract

BACKGROUND This study aimed to determine whether trunk stability muscles co-contract with body position as a factor of pelvic floor muscle (PFM) activity. MATERIAL AND METHODS Sixty-one healthy adults without pelvic floor dysfunction were examined for pelvic floor and trunk stability muscle activity in 4 body positions (ankle dorsiflexion and plantar flexion in standing position, and ankle dorsiflexion and plantar flexion in long sitting position). The activities of the PFMs via anal/vaginal probes, internal oblique (IO), multifidus (MF), tibialis anterior, and gastrocnemius muscles were measured by surface electromyography. Three-dimensional motion analysis measured the movement of the pelvis in real time according to the change in body position. RESULTS There was a significant increase in PFM activity from the ankle neutral position while standing for both ankle dorsiflexion and plantar flexion in standing position (p<0.05). In maximal contraction of PFM in the standing position, IO and MF were found to co-activate (p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS In standing position, the ankle dorsiflexion and plantar flexion positions activated PFMs, which was found to co-activate with trunk stability muscles. Pelvic floor training programs based on the results of this study may be helpful in patients with incontinence.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Muscle activity in body positions (A–E) and muscle co-contraction activity with the pelvic floor muscle (F). Horizontal lines indicate significant differences from one-wey ANOVA, followed by Scheffe’s post hoc analysis. MVIC% – percentage of maximal voluntary isometric contraction; PF – ankle plantar flexion; DF – ankle dorsiflexion; TA – tibialis anterior; GCM – gastrocnemius; IO – internal oblique; MF – multifidus
Figure 2
Figure 2
Maximum angle changes in the ankle and pelvis with different body positions. PF – ankle plantar flexion; DF – ankle dorsiflexion.
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