Is there any difference in pelvic floor muscles performance between continent and incontinent women?
OBJECTIVE
To compare pelvic floor muscles (PFMs) performance in women with and without stress urinary incontinence (SUI) during endurance test.


METHODS
It is a prospective case-control clinical trial. After determining PFM maximal voluntary contraction (MVC) by electromyography (EMG), women underwent endurance test, which consisted of consecutively PFM 1-sec fast contractions reaching MVC amplitude followed by 1-sec rest. Training time guided by Borg perceived exertion scale was noted. Heart rate (HR) behavior and EMG variables were assessed before and after training making a physiological analysis in both groups.


RESULTS
A total of 56 women, mean age 52.19 years old, were evaluated (26 continent and 30 incontinent women). The time that SUI and continent women took to reach fatigue (Borg 10) was 9.1 ± 4.7 and 14.19 ± 8.32 min, respectively (P = 0.006). Confirming that all women performed similar effort during the test, analysis of variance with repeated measures showed that during the endurance test both groups presented similar increase in HR, showing detectable and significant increase from resting time to Borg 10 (P < 0.001). Besides, there was similar behavior in EMG for continent and SUI women, with a decrease from the baseline resting amplitude (P = 0.003 for SUI women and P = 0.006 for continent women).


CONCLUSIONS
Women with SUI showed worse performance during an endurance test than continent women. It suggests that women have different capacity to perform PFM training. An initial evaluation based on PFM performance would help to define the best individualized PFM training.
Department of Urology, Federal University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.
Juliana Schulze
JS
Burti
Department of Urology, Federal University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.
Claudia R
CR
Hacad
Institute of Regenerative Medicine, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
João Paulo
JP
Zambon
Department of Urology, Federal University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.
Emily Assis
EA
Polessi
Department of Urology, Federal University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.
Fernando G
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2960-9931
FG
Almeida
D016022:Case-Control Studies; D004576:Electromyography; D005260:Female; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009119:Muscle Contraction; D018763:Muscle Fatigue / Q000502:physiology; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000502:physiology* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D017773:Pelvic Floor / Q000502:physiology* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D010806:Physical Education and Training; D010807:Physical Endurance; D011446:Prospective Studies; D014550:Urinary Incontinence, Stress / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000534:rehabilitation
electromyography; fatigue; pelvic floor muscle training; physiology; stress urinary incontinence