Changes of Pelvic Floor Muscle Function During Pregnancy

What is known about changes in pelvic floor muscle strength and tone in women during the childbirth pathway? A scoping review

“…Hock et al 25 and Palmenzoni et al 29 are in agreement with the result regarding a decrease in PFM in pregnant women in correlation compared to non-pregnant women. Other studies that analyzed only variations of PFM during pregnancy did not find significant differences in strength among the stages of pregnancy 1 , 7 .…”

“…This review included 22 articles that investigated pelvic floor strength 1 , 15 - 35 , 14 analytic correlational studies 1 , 15 - 17 , 22 , 23 , 26 , 27 , 29 - 31 , 33 - 35 , 2 observational descriptive studies 25 , 32 , 1 case study 36 , 1 RCT 28 , and 1 systematic review 18 . Included studies originated from 12 countries: Brazil (n=5), Norway (n=5), Switzerland (n=2), Turkey (n=2), UK (n=1), Pakistan (n=1), China (n=1), France (n=1), USA (n=1), Hungary (n=1), Canada (n=1), and Netherlands (n=1).…”

“…Perineal strength was measured in several ways, including vaginal digital examination to the modified Oxford Scale 1 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 19 , 26 , 29 , 31 , 35 ; perineometry 16 , 17 , 19 , 24 , 25 , 29 ; manometer/dynamometer 23 , 29 , 33 ; translabial 2D/3D or transperineal ultrasonography 22 , 26 , 34 ; POP-Q test 1 ; intravaginal air-inflated balloon catheter 22 , 25 , 28 ; and the device Myomed 932 ® 32 and Brink’s scale 30 ( Table 1 ).…”

Benefit of vaginal dilatational balloons in pregnancy

“…The vaginal childbirth is the most significant risk factor for pelvis floor disorders with decrease of its strength up to 22-35% after the childbirth [1,5,6]. One of the studies, concerned with exercise with Aniball, which evaluated the effect of methods for preventing perineum injury during the childbirth, proved a significantly lower incidence of intact perineum and performing an episiotomy by women who did use balloons.…”