Evaluation of pelvic floor muscles activity with and without abdominal maneuvers in subjects with and without low back pain.

Abstract

There was controversy in finding of studies related pelvic floor muscle (PFM) rehabilitation of subjects with low back pain (LBP), while this issue is very important for treatment of subjects with LBP. The purpose of this study was to evaluate PFM contraction in three conditions of alone and with abdominal hollowing (AH) or abdominal bracing (AB) maneuvers in subjects with and without chronic LBP. Subjects were divided into two groups: subjects with LBP (N = 25) and without LBP (N = 27). PFM contraction alone and during contraction with AH or AB maneuvers was measured. The amount of bladder base movement was measured as an indicator of PFM activity. There were no differences in PFM activity between subjects with and without chronic LBP, when PFM contracted alone (P = 0.60), contracted with AH (P= 0.12) and AB maneuver (P = 0.54). Our data revealed that contraction of the PFM alone produce greater displacement of the bladder base than contraction of the PFM with AH (P = 0.005) or AB maneuver (P = 0.001) in both groups. However, no significant difference was found between contraction of the PFM with AH and AB maneuver in individuals with LBP (P = 0.31). It seems that PFM contraction alone is more effective than PFM contraction with AH or AB maneuvers in lifting the pelvic floor in subjects with and without LBP.