Pelvic floor muscle displacement during jumps in continent and incontinent women: An exploratory study

The prevalence of stress urinary incontinence during high-impact activities is high. Enhanced comprehension of pelvic floor muscle (PFM) displacement and activity is clinically relevant for the development of specific approaches in rehabilitation. The aim of the study is to investigate and to compare PFM displacement between the continent and incontinent women during jumps.

A cross-sectional, exploratory design was applied to investigate PFM displacement during drop jumps (DJ) and countermovement jumps (CMJ). PFM displacement was assessed in craniocaudal translation and forward-backward rotation with an electromagnetic tracking system.

Twenty-eight continent and 22 incontinent women were included. During the first landing of DJ, a primary caudal, during the second landing of DJ/CMJ a primary cranial translation and during all jump a primary backward rotation was observed. No significant difference between the groups was found.

PFM displacement during running demonstrated caudal translation/forward rotation before and cranial translation/backward rotation after heel strike. During the second landing of DJ/CMJ a cranial translation/backward rotation and during the first landing of DJ a caudal translation/backward rotation has been observed after ground contact. This may be due to the longer lasting bodyweight force in the first landing of DJ. No eccentric-concentric stretch-shortening cycle could be seen.

This study indicates that during jumps two opposite reactions of involuntary PFM displacement happen, but no stretch-shortening cycle with an eccentric-concentric contraction could be found. Jumping stimuli inducing involuntary PFM displacement should be used for future investigations to consider a beneficial effect concerning continence.