Are fatigue and disturbances in pre-programmed activity of pelvic floor muscles associated with female stress urinary incontinence?
Verelst M; Leivseth G Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University of Tromsø, Norway. margareta.varelst@unn.no AIMS: To investigate whether there is a difference between a continent versus a stress urinary incontinent group of women regarding: (i) fatigue in pelvic floor muscles, and (ii) pre-activation times between pelvic floor and abdominal muscles during coughing. METHODS: Twenty-six continent and 20 stress urinary incontinent parous women were examined. Fatigue was measured with an intravaginal device. Time to 10% decline of the initial reference force (RF) was defined as time-to-fatigue. Simultaneous recordings of force developed in levator ani muscle and electromyographic activity in the external oblique abdominal muscle were performed to determine whether contraction of pelvic floor muscles precedes activity in abdominal muscles during coughing. RESULTS: Time-to-fatigue was identical in the two groups (10.5 sec in the continent and 11.5 sec in the incontinent group, med
