• PNF and Movement
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.373-380
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• 2017

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate of the effects of the mode of delivery on pelvic floor muscle function by examining bladder base movement and urinary incontinence. Methods: This study was conducted on 100 females who had delivered in the previous 3-8 months. There were 2 groups: 56 vaginal deliveries and 44 cesarean section deliveries. Prior to the study, a survey was conducted on the subjects' general status, delivery mode, urinary incontinence, and physical activity. The groups could not be blinded due to scar tissue from the operations. The function of the pelvic floor muscle was observed with the bladder base movement using transabdominal ultrasound during pelvic floor contraction. To objectify and measure the subjective symptoms of subjects suffering from urinary incontinence, an incontinence quality of life (I-QoL) test was administered. Statistical analysis of the data was performed using SPSS version 20.0. An independent t-test was used to assess the statistical significance of pelvic floor muscle function between the 2 groups after delivery. Results: The movement of the bladder base in the pelvic floor muscle function was decreased in the vaginal delivery group, but the difference was not significant. Urinary incontinence was significantly increased in the vaginal delivery group. Conclusion: The function of the pelvic floor muscles was better in the cesarean section group and the incidence of urinary incontinence was relatively low in this group. Therefore, vaginal delivery requires more efforts to restore the function of the pelvic floor muscles than cesarean delivery.

• Physical Therapy Rehabilitation Science
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.103-107
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• 2015

Objective: Pelvic floor muscles (PFMs) form the base of the abdomino-pelvic cavity and also the PFMs function is important for urinary continence. PFMs training (PFMT) is considered to be the first method for PFM dysfunction. This study demonstrated correct PFMs contraction among commonly used different contraction methods for PFMT. Design: Cross-sectional study. Methods: In this study, nineteen middle-aged (40-70 years) women participated. To evaluate PFM function, ultrasonography was used to measure the distance of the bladder base movement. The distance of the PFM movements were calculated at rest and during the other contractions. The following four different contraction methods were performed randomly: (1) PFM contraction, (2) abdominal drawing-in maneuver (ADIM), (3) anal contraction, and (4) hip adductor muscle contraction. The participants held the contraction for 3 seconds for a total of 3 times with a 30 seconds rest period between each trial. The mean of three measurements in each position were obtained and compared with that in the resting position. Results: The bladder base movement values were significantly greater when comparing PFM with ADIM and hip adductor contractions (p<0.05). The bladder base movement values were significantly greater when comparing ADIM and anal contractions with hip adductor contractions (p<0.05). Conclusions: The results of this study suggest that performing PFM contractions is the best method among the common methods for PFMT. Performing PFM contractions was more effective than the other contraction methods.

• Journal of rehabilitation welfare engineering & assistive technology
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.13-19
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• 2007

In this study, diagnostic algorithm was suggested to diagnose quantitatively the degree of the stress urinary incontinence. The bio-signal measurement system was developed to measure the contraction pressure of the pelvic floor muscle and diagnostic parameters were drawn out by analyzing the contraction pressure data. Statistical evaluations were done to classify the diagnositc parameters by order that relationship is high. The diagnostic algorithm that was able to diagnose degree of the urinary incontinence as quantitatively was realized from the high relationship parameters.

• PNF and Movement
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.25-30
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• 2015

Purpose: The aim of this study was to examine the effects of abdominal muscle contraction thickness using real-time ultrasound imaging while applying an abdominal draw-in maneuver (ADIM) and pelvic floor muscle contraction (PFC) to low back pain patients and healthy subjects. Methods: The subjects were 21 young adults; a group of 10 low back pain patients and a control group of 11 healthy subjects. Measurements were made with the subjects on a pillow in a supine position, with the knee joints flexed at 60 degrees. While the two groups conducted ADIM and PFC, their transverse abdominal muscle (TrA), internal abdominal oblique muscle (IO), and external abdominal oblique muscle (EO) thicknesses were measured using an ultrasound imaging system. Result: The TrA muscle contraction thickness ratio during PFC and ADIM was significantly lower in the low back pain group than in the healthy group (p<0.05). The EO muscle contraction thickness ratio during ADIM was also significantly lower in the low back pain group than in the healthy group. The healthy group's muscle contraction thickness ratio was significantly lower during PFC than during ADIM in the TrA, IO, and EO (p<0.05). The low back pain group's muscle contraction thickness ratio was lower during PFC than during ADIM in the TrA, IO, and EO, but the difference was not statistically significant. Conclusion: The results of this study indicate that oral direction during ADIM induced an appropriate contraction of the TrA. Therefore, the procedure reported here may be applied during rehabilitation for appropriate contraction of the TrA.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Physical Medicine
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.53-60
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• 2016

PURPOSE: This study aimed to identify differences in the thickness of the transverse abdominis (TrA) and pelvic floor muscles (PFM) between those with (LBP) and without low back pain (non-LBP). The standardized methods of contraction for the TrA and PFM were used to perform the abdominal draw-in maneuver (ADIM) and pelvic floor muscle contraction (PFC), respectively. METHODS: This study included 27 young men and women, who were verbally instructed regarding the maneuvers (LBP, n=14; non-LBP, n=13). For all subjects, TrA and PFM thickness were evaluated by ultrasonography during ADIM and PFC. RESULTS: The results of this study showed that TrA thickness increased during ADIM and PFC to a greater degree in the non-LBP group than in the LBP group (p < 0.01). PFM thickness increased more during PFC in the non-LBP group than in the LBP group (p < 0.05). Both groups showed greater increases in TrA thickness during ADIM than during PFC (p < 0.01), and greater increases in PFM thickness during PFC than during ADIM (p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: These results suggest that receiving verbal instructions on how to use each muscle for a specific maneuver was more beneficial than other verbal instruction. Further studies are needed determine how our results may be applied beneficially in research on this topic.

• The Journal of Korean Physical Therapy
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.267-273
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• 2000

The 30 percent or more women who have urinary incontinence have some problem in contraction of perineal muscles. In fact. to increase the strength of perineal muscles, voluntary muscle contraction is more effective than electrical contraction. Electrical stimulation or bio feedback therapy is safe and effective therapy for Patients who have complex urinary incontinence. because these therapies can solve the problems of the voluntary perineal muscle contraction these therapies can help women to know to contract the perineal muscles effectively. The combined therapy ie. Electrical stimulation and bio feedback therapy with pelvic muscle training program or bladder drill can be considered as good treatment method. Pelvic floor muscle exercise is importance to make patient itself participate by making to be interested about exercise and by tacking motivations at therapy to themselves.

• Journal of IKEEE
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.87-94
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• 2008

Pelvic floor muscle is the main subsystem that maintains urinary continence. It is possible to diagnose the degree of the stress urinary incontinence(SUI) by evaluating the contraction pressure of the pelvic floor muscle. Bio-signal measurement system was developed to measure the contraction pressure. Diagnostic parameters were drawn out by analyzing the measured data. Statistical evaluations were done to classify the all subjects with five groups each has similar characteristics. SUI diagnostic algorithm was implemented to each group separately. The accuracy of the algorithm was about 78.9% and utility was confirmed by clinical trial.

• Physical Therapy Rehabilitation Science
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.209-214
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• 2020

Objective: Using biofeedback in instructing pelvic floor muscle (PFM) activation is a great method to provide information on muscle contraction. This study aimed to determine the immediate effectiveness of a mobile game-based instruction with an extracorporeal biofeedback device (EBD) to improve PFM contraction in healthy subjects. Design: Cross-sectional study. Methods: Sixteen healthy subjects (4 men and 12 nulliparous women; age, 31±5 years) were enrolled. The subjects were randomly categorized into two groups, those who were to receive instructions on how to contract the PFM by using the EBD (n=7) and those who were to undergo a transabdominal ultrasonography (TAUS; n=9) with biofeedback. PFM function was measured as the displacement (mm) of PFM elevation by using the TAUS before and after the instructions in each group. Results: The EBD and TAUS groups showed a significant increase in the displacement of PFM elevation after the instructions from 5.93±4.03 mm to 7.62±3.77 mm and from 5.27±3.39 mm to 7.47±2.79 mm, respectively (p<0.05). No significant differences were found between the two groups. Conclusions: The results of this study indicated that instructions for PFM contraction using the EBD and TAUS showed an immediate effect; however, no significant difference in effectiveness was observed between the two instruction methods. Therefore, not only can the TAUS method be used but the EBD method can also be used as a PFM instruction method for noninvasive procedures. However, further studies are needed to demonstrate the effectiveness of training and exercise on larger sample sizes that includes patient populations with PFM dysfunction.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Integrative Medicine
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.81-89
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• 2022

Purpose : Kegel exercises reported that it is effective in managing stress-related or complex urinary incontinence through contraction and relaxation of the pelvic floor muscles. In many previous studies, it was confirmed that Kegel exercise is involved in respiration as well as urinary system diseases. However, there is a lack of research on the effect of pelvic setting when performing Kegel exercises. Therefore, this study was conducted to investigate the effect on maximum voluntary ventilation (MVV) and abdominal muscle thickness through Kegel exercise after lumbar-pelvic motor control using pressure biofeedback unit (PBU). Methods : The subjects of this study were 10 healthy female students in their 20s. Subjects measured MVV with a spirometer. In hooklying, external oblique, internal oblique, and transverse abdominis of the dominant hand were measured using ultrasound. The measured value was an average of three times. After one week of intervention, measurements were made in the same manner. Before Kegel exercise, pelvic setting training was performed using PBU. In hooklying, PBU was placed in the waist and set to 40 mmHg, and it was adjusted to 60 mmHg through pelvic muscle contraction. For Kegel exercise, the pelvis was first set using PBU, and then the pelvic floor muscles were contracted for 8 seconds and relaxed for 8 seconds, 10 times, 1 set, and 3 sets. Results : In MVV, a significant difference was confirmed after exercise than before exercise (p<.05). There was also a significant difference in abdominal muscle thickness before and after exercise (p<.05). Conclusion : Based on the results of this study, Kegel exercise using PBU had an effect on MVV and abdominal muscle thickness. However, since this study was conducted without a control group as a preliminary study, additional research should be conducted to supplement this.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.277-287
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• 2018

Pelvic floor muscle is the main sub-system that maintains urinary continence. The weakness of pelvic floor muscles causes the stress urinary incontinence, and therefore the degree of functioning of pelvic floor muscles could be used as an index to assess the degree of stress urinary incontinence. In this study, the quantitative diagnosis algorithm was proposed to estimate the degree of stress urinary incontinence (SUI) by measuring the contraction pressure of pelvic floor muscle. For these reason, the contraction pressure measurement system from pelvic floor muscle was developed, and the measuring protocol was suggested to analysis the obtained data. As the results of clinical test, the proposed diagnosis algorithm shows the 80% of accuracy, and 20% of false positive diagnosis. On the other hand, false negative results were not confirmed. Consequentially, we thought that the proposed urinary incontinence diagnosis algorithm can quantitatively diagnose the progression of the stress urinary incontinence and it can be used for the development of the incontinence diagnosis system.