Can Women Correctly Contract Their Pelvic Floor Muscles Without Formal Instruction?
Open accessAbstract
OBJECTIVES: It is unknown how many women presenting for primary care can appropriately contract their pelvic floor muscle (PFM) or whether this ability differs between women with or without pelvic floor disorders. We sought to describe the proportion of women who initially incorrectly contract the PFM and how many can learn after basic instruction. METHODS: This cross-sectional study enrolled 779 women presenting to community-based primary care practices. During PFM assessment, research nurses recorded whether women could correctly contract their PFM after a brief verbal cue. We defined pelvic organ prolapse (POP) as prolapse to or beyond the hymen and stress urinary incontinence (SUI) as a score of greater than equal 3 on the Incontinence Severity Index. RESULTS: Pelvic floor muscle contraction was done correctly on first attempt in 85.5%, 83.4%, 68.6%, and 85.8% of women with POP, SUI, both POP and SUI, and neither POP nor SUI, respectively (P=0.01 for difference between POP and SUI versus neither POP nor SUI). Of 120 women who initially incorrectly contracted the PFM, 94 women (78%) learned after brief instruction. Women with POP were less likely to learn than women with neither POP nor SUI (54.3% vs 85.7%, P=0.001). Increasing vaginal delivery and decreasing caffeine intake (but not age or other demographic factors) were associated with incorrect PFM contraction; only decreased caffeine intake remained significant on multivariable analysis. CONCLUSIONS: Most women with no or mild pelvic floor disorders can correctly contract their PFM after a simple verbal cue, suggesting that population-based prevention interventions can be initiated without clinical confirmation of correct PFM technique.
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Educational level does not appear to be associated with the ability to understand instructions and perform pelvic floor muscle training.
“However, the educational level does not appear to be associated with the ability to understand instructions and perform PFMT 29.”
From Self‐management of stress urinary incontinence via a mobile app: two‐year follow‐up of a randomized controlled trial (2017) · cites this paper as [29]
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- Authors
- Henderson, J. W., Wang, S., Egger, M. J., Masters, M., & Nygaard, I.
- Affiliations
- University of Utah (US)
- Corresponding author
- Henderson, Joseph Welles
- Masters, Maria
- Nygaard, Ingrid
- Venue
- Female Pelvic Medicine & Reconstructive Surgery
- Published
- 2013-01
- Volume
- 19
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 8-12
- ISSN
- 2151-8378 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC3551249
- OpenAlex
- W1970250443
- Cited by
- 96
- References
- 20
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 7 · 2022: 18 · 2021: 8 · 2020: 13 · 2019: 11 · 2018: 10 · 2017: 7 · 2016: 8 · 2015: 1 · 2014: 3 · 2013: 1
- FWCI
- 3.55
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Urogynecology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (R01HD057895)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Rheumatology › Pelvic floor disorders treatments
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Sexual function and dysfunction studies
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Urology › Urinary Bladder and Prostate Research
- Keywords
- pelvic floor muscle contraction, pelvic floor muscle training, pelvic organ prolapse, stress urinary incontinence, pelvic floor dysfunction, caffeine consumption, vaginal delivery
- MeSH terms
- Female, Humans, Middle Aged, Muscle Contraction, Patient Education as Topic, Urinary Incontinence, Stress, Pelvic Floor, Pelvic Organ Prolapse
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