Comparative Evaluation of Effectiveness of Pelvic Floor Strengthening and Myokinetic Active Release of Trigger Points in Reducing Dysmenorrhea

Abstract

Background and Aim Dysmenorrhea is a dull abdominal pain that may radiate to lower back and thigh beginning approximately two days before menstruation. Pelvic floor strengthening is favorable in reducing dysmenorrhea. Alteration in muscle function due to hormonal imbalance can also cause dysmenorrhea. Lower rectus abdominis trigger points TrPs deactivation relieves dysmenorrhea. Restoring correct spine mobility by deactivating quadratus lumborum trigger points may improve dysmenorrhea. Gluteus medius commonly develops satellite triggers in response to active quadratus lumborum triggers. Myokinetic active release technique can be effectively used to treat TrPs. This study aimed to find if myokinetic active release of TrPs of rectus abdominis gluteus medius and quadratus lumborum is better than pelvic floor muscle strengthening in reducing dysmenorrhea.Methods This experimental trial was done in research lab of Department of Physiotherapy SBSPGI Dehradun. This experimental study comprised of 40 subjects randomly divided into two groups namely Group 1 and Group 2. Each group consisted of 20 subjects. Subjects in Group 1 were prescribed pelvic floor muscle strengthening and those in Group 2 were prescribed myokinetic active release of triggers points. Pre-and post-treatment visual analogue scale VAS scores were recorded and analyzed. Paired t test was used for within the group and unpaired t test was used for between the group comparisons.Results The results showed both the treatment protocols to be significantly effective p lt0.0001 but on comparison of data between the groups Group 2 was found to be better.Conclusion Both the techniques were found to be effective in treating dysmenorrhea however myokinetic active release was observed to be superior.