Does imagining interrupting the flow of urine really elicit contractions of the pelvic floor muscles in stress-incontinent postpartum women?

Abstract

Objectives: This study evaluated if imagining interrupting the flow of urine really elicits contractions of the pelvic floor muscles (PFM) in stress-incontinent postpartum women. Methods: A total of 21 postpartum women with recent vaginal deliveries performed four trials of Kegel’s exercises, each prompted by a different contraction technique. PFM activities were measured with a surface electromyography via a vaginal electrode. Inferential statistics of repeated-measures one-way analysis of variance with Bonferroni post hoc analysis were performed to compare the effective recruitment of the PFMs across the four trials. Results: PFM activities significantly varied across the four trials ( p<0.001), with ‘imagination of interrupting urine flow’ eliciting the least muscular activity (25.40±10.98) and ‘abdominal bracing with hip adduction’ elicited the highest activity (49.67±11.33). Conclusion: Findings showed that utilizing many contraction techniques during Kegel’s education is more effective compared to educating patients with one contraction technique. Level of Evidence: Level 2.