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Techniques for Registration of Myoelectric Activity of Women’s Pelvic Floor Muscles: A Scoping Review

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Abstract

Introduction and hypothesis

Surface electromyography is commonly applied to measure the electrophysiological activity of the neuromuscular system. However, there is no consensus regarding the best protocol to assess pelvic floor muscles.

Methods

A scoping literature review was carried out in six databases, using MeSH descriptors. It included studies with electromyographic assessment in adult women presenting or not with pelvic floor dysfunction. The results were presented in categories to contribute to the development of a protocol considering the most used parameters for non-invasive assessment of myoelectric activity of pelvic floor muscles.

Results

A total of 1,074 articles were identified, and 146 studies were selected for analysis. The intravaginal probe was used in 80.8% of the studies, the bipolar sensor with metallic plates placed on both sides of the vagina was the most frequent (71.3%), with a reference electrode positioned on the anterior superior iliac spine (33.5%). The supine position with hip and knee flexed (45.2%) was the most frequent position used. Of the studies, 44.5% normalized the data by maximum voluntary contraction (MVC) whereas 44.5% performed an average of 3 MVCs.

Conclusions

The most frequently used protocol for the pelvic floor is the bipolar intracavitary probe with metal plates positioned at 3–9 o’clock and introduced distally to the vaginal introitus with the volunteer in the supine position and the hip and knee flexed with the reference placed on the anterior–superior iliac spine.

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Data Availability

All data are available upon request.

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Funding

This study was financed in part by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior—Brasil (CAPES)—Finance Code 001.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physical Therapy, Health Sciences Center, Federal University of Pernambuco, Av. Jorn. Aníbal Fernandes, 173 — Cidade Universitária, Recife, Pernambuco, 50740-560, Brazil

    Josepha Karinne de Oliveira Ferro, Andrea Lemos, Alessandra Carolina de Santana Chagas, Alexa Alves de Moraes & Daniella Araújo de Oliveira

  2. University of Applied Sciences, Hochschule Osnabrück, Caprivi Strasse 30, Room 0017, Osnabrück, Germany

    Ana Izabela Sobral de Oliveira-Souza

Authors
  1. Josepha Karinne de Oliveira Ferro
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  2. Andrea Lemos
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  3. Alessandra Carolina de Santana Chagas
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  4. Alexa Alves de Moraes
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  5. Ana Izabela Sobral de Oliveira-Souza
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  6. Daniella Araújo de Oliveira
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Contributions

J.K.O. Ferro: creating the study idea, protocol/project development, data collection, management of data analysis, and manuscript writing/editing; A. Lemos: protocol/project development, manuscript editing; A.C. Santana Chagas: data collection, management of data analysis; A.A. de Moraes: data collection; manuscript editing. A.I.S. de Oliveira-Souza: management of data analysis and manuscript writing/editing; D.A. de Oliveira: creating the study idea, protocol/project development, and manuscript editing.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Daniella Araújo de Oliveira.

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Ethical Approval

Ethical approval was not needed as this is a scoping review that did not involve any patients.

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de Oliveira Ferro, J.K., Lemos, A., de Santana Chagas, A.C. et al. Techniques for Registration of Myoelectric Activity of Women’s Pelvic Floor Muscles: A Scoping Review. Int Urogynecol J (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00192-024-05744-0

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