Pelvic floor muscle electromyography during different running speeds: an exploratory and reliability study

Abstract

EMG variables showed excellent ICC and very low SEM and MD. Further studies should investigate inter-session reliability and PFM reactivity patterns of SUI patients using the average over ten steps for each variable as it showed very high ICC and very low SEM and MD. Subsequently, longer running distances and other high-impact sports disciplines could be studied.

Pelvic floor muscle reflex activity during coughing – an exploratory and reliability study

“…It focused on the reliability of 6 previously defined EMG variables of pre-activity and reflexivity [11,18,19]. The study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki, and all participants gave written informed consent.…”

“…We chose to perform the MVC test with the participant standing instead of the usual supine position [18,22,23] because it seemed more functional for coughing in that the PFMs has to contract against gravity [18,22].…”

“…The variables of pre-activity and variables of slow, medium and long latency and long-latency succeeding responses to characterize reflex activity were chosen from protocols of former studies [11,18,19]. Because basically no clear and reproducible reflex peaks after the initial time point of coughing (i.e., the impact and beginning loading phase and strain of the PFMs) could be determined visually on the rectified EMG for consecutive coughs, we calculated the mean amplitudes for fixed 30-ms intervals covering the phase in which reflex activity is expected to occur.…”

“…EMG variables were calculated according to existing study protocols as RMS values within 30-ms intervals, representing the reflex latency responses [11,18,19] (See Table 1) with use of Matlab R2013a (The Mathworks, Inc.). To identify amplitude peaks during MVC, EMG was calculated as RMS (200-ms moving window) by using the ADS software.…”

“…Therefore, reflex phase amplitudes were calculated from 30 to 60 ms (short latency response), 60 to 90 ms (medium latency response), 90 to 120 ms (long-latency response) and 120 to 150 ms (long-latency succeeding response). Additionally, pre-activity was computed for the interval between -30 ms and T0 [11,18,19]. …”