Pelvic floor muscle contraction during a cough and decreased vesical neck mobility

To test the hypothesis that a voluntary pelvic muscle contraction initiated in preparation for a cough, a maneuver we call the Knack, significantly reduces vesical neck displacement.

A convenience sample of 22 women consisted of 11 young, continent nulliparas (mean age [+/- standard deviation] 24.8 +/- 7.0 years) and 11 older, incontinent paras (mean age [+/-SD] 66.9 +/- 3.9 years). With the use of perineal ultrasound, we quantified vesical neck displacement at rest and during coughs using caliper tracing and a coordinate system. The subjects coughed with and without voluntary pelvic floor muscle contraction.

Vesical neck mobility during coughs was significantly decreased when voluntary contraction was used: from a median (range) of 5.4 (20.0) mm without volitional contraction to 2.9 (18.3) mm with volitional contraction (P <.001). The younger women demonstrated a median (range) decrease in excursion from 4.6 (19.5) to 0.0 (17.0) mm (P =.007), and the older incontinent women demonstrated a median (range) decrease from 6.2 (10.0) to 3.5 (15.4) mm (P =.003). At rest, the median vesical neck position in the group of older incontinent women was significantly further dorsocaudal (P =.001) than in the younger women.

A pelvic floor muscle contraction in preparation for, and throughout, a cough can augment proximal urethra support during stress, thereby reducing the amount of dorsocaudal displacement.