No abstract

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the results obtained in the evaluation of intra-vaginal pressure using three different brands of perineometers in nulliparous volunteers. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Twenty nulliparous women with no anatomical alterations and/or dysfunction of the pelvic floor were enrolled in our study. All the women had the ability to voluntarily contract their PFM (Pelvic Floor Muscles), as assessed by digital palpation. The intra-vaginal pressure was assessed using three different brands of perineometer (Neurodyn EvolutionTM, SensuPowerTM and PeritronTM). Each volunteer was evaluated on three alternate days by a single examiner using a single brand of perineometer on each day. In the assessment, the volunteers were required to pull (contract) their PFM in and up as strongly as possible 3 times and to sustain the contraction for 5 seconds, with an interval of 30 seconds between each pull. For the statistical analysis, a concordance correlation coefficient was used to compare the values that were obtained with each brand of perineometer. RESULTS: A moderate concordance (0.51) was found between the results from the PeritronTM and NeurodynTM perineometers, a fair concordance (0.21) between the PeritronTM and SensuPowerTM brands and a poor concordance (0.19) between the NeurodynTM and SensuPowerTM brands. CONCLUSION: The concordance of the measurements of the intra-vaginal pressure ranged from poor to moderate, suggesting that perineometers of different brands generate different results

All the studies observed improvement in PFM contraction using various methods, but none were superior over the others. The studies revealed no adverse effects of the interventions used. Patient preferences should be taken into account in clinical decision-making. More studies of high methodological quality on this topic are needed.

Brazilian Registry of Clinical Trials, RBR-95sxqv. [de Andrade RL, Bø K, Antonio FI, Driusso P, Mateus-Vasconcelos ECL, Ramos S, Julio MP, Ferreira CHJ (2018) An education program about pelvic floor muscles improved women's knowledge but not pelvic floor muscle function, urinary incontinence or sexual function: a randomised trial. Journal of Physiotherapy 64: 91-96].

Background The prevalence of sexual dysfunction is high in postmenopausal women and pelvic floor muscle training (PFMT) could improve sexual function during this period. Aim To assess the effect of a PFMT protocol on sexual function in postmenopausal women and to investigate the effect of this protocol on pelvic floor muscle function. Methods This is an assessor blinded randomized controlled trial including 77 postmenopausal women. The study was registered in ReBEC Trial: RBR-3s3ff7. The intervention group (n = 40) received an intensive supervised PFMT protocol during 12 weeks and the control group (n = 37) received no intervention. Outcomes The primary outcome of the study was assessed by the Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI) questionnaire and the secondary outcome was the evaluation of pelvic floor muscle function performed by digital palpation using the modified Oxford scale at baseline and after 12 weeks. RESULTS No difference between groups was found in the FSFI domains and total score at baseline and in the second evaluation after 12 weeks. However, after 12 weeks, a higher percentage of women without sexual dysfunction was found in the intervention group (95% CI = 27.97–72.03) when compared to the control group (95% CI = 7.13–92.87). No difference was found between groups in relation to the pelvic floor muscle function at the baseline (P = .2) and after 12 weeks (P = .06). Clinical Implications PFMT is a conservative intervention that can lead women to have less sexual dysfunction. Strengths & Limitations The protocol provided a reduced number of women with sexual dysfunction, the strength of this research is the study design and the limitation is to have used only one tool to assess sexual function although it is a validated questionnaire. CONCLUSION PFMT decreases sexual dysfunction in postmenopausal women.