Reliability and validity of a mobile home pelvic floor muscle trainer: The Elvie Trainer.

Aims: Reliability and validity of force measurement and task detection by the Elvie Trainer were evaluated against an intravaginal dynamometer (IVD) and ultrasound (US) imaging.

Methods: Women were recruited from local physiotherapy clinics. At the first visit, pelvic floor muscle (PFM) strength and tone were assessed manually.

The impact of a familiarization session on the magnitude and stability of active and passive pelvic floor muscle forces measured through intravaginal dynamometry.

Aims: The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of task familiarization on (1) the magnitude and (2) the repeatability of active and passive properties of the female pelvic floor muscles (PFMs) measured using automated intra-vaginal dynamometry.

Methods: Women attended three laboratory sessions at one-week intervals. After receiving initial task instruction and feedback at the start of the first session, standardized instructions were given while women performed maximal effort voluntary contractions of their PFMs with the dynamometer arms open at two different diameters and kept their PFMs relaxed while the dynamometer arms opened to 40 mm at two speeds.

An automated intravaginal dynamometer: Reliability metrics and the impact of testing protocol on active and passive forces measured from the pelvic floor muscles.

Aims: (1) To determine the reliability of an automated dynamometer designed to assess pelvic floor muscle (PFM) strength and resistance to passive elongation. (2) To evaluate the impact of PFM length and rate of tissue elongation on dynamometric outcomes.

Methods: At each of two sessions, twenty nulliparous women performed three maximum voluntary contractions (MVC) of their PFMs with the dynamometer set to two different anteroposterior (AP) diameters (25 mm, 35 mm).

UROKIN: A Software to Enhance Our Understanding of Urogenital Motion.

Transperineal ultrasound (TPUS) allows for objective quantification of mid-sagittal urogenital mechanics, yet current practice omits dynamic motion information in favor of analyzing only a rest and a peak motion frame. This work details the development of UROKIN, a semi-automated software which calculates kinematic curves of urogenital landmark motion. A proof of concept analysis, performed using UROKIN on TPUS video recorded from 20 women with and 10 women without stress urinary incontinence (SUI) performing maximum voluntary contraction of the pelvic floor muscles.