Pelvic floor muscle tenderness in asymptomatic, nulliparous women: topographical distribution and reliability of a visual analogue scale.

Introduction And Hypothesis: Aim of this study is to investigate pelvic floor muscle pain scores in a group of healthy, asymptomatic, nulliparous women using a simple visual analogue scale, and to examine the inter-rater and test-retest reliability of the digital palpation of the pelvic floor muscle.

Methods: Seventeen female volunteers were recruited. Different sites of their pelvic floor muscle were examined digitally according to the suggestions of the International Continence Society from two investigators blinded to the clinical data in two consecutive visits and pain scores were obtained. Level of agreement between investigators, inter-rater and intra-rater reliability were assessed.

Results: Overall pain scores were low. There were statistically significant differences between scores at different pelvic sites, with the levator ani showing the lowest scores. Reliability was heterogeneous among pelvic sites, varying from poor to excellent.

Conclusions: Pain upon palpation of the pelvic floor muscle in asymptomatic, nulliparous women should be considered an uncommon finding.