Using intercostal muscle EMG to quantify maternal expulsive efforts during vaginal delivery: a pilot study.

Aims: The expulsive forces of childbirth can be included among the many potential risk factors implicated in the subsequent development of stress urinary incontinence (SUI) in women. The objective of this study was to devise a non-invasive way to measure abdominal pushing that would accurately represent the expulsive forces during childbirth.

Methods: By means of intravesical and intrauterine manometry, and electromyography (EMG) of intercostal muscles, we quantified these forces in 21 women during vaginal delivery.