Fig 1.
Method for calculation of pelvic floor displacements.
Representative transperineal ultrasound images recorded in the (A) relaxed and (B) contracted states with pelvic structure borders and points of interest superimposed on the images. (C) Combined borders from the two images to indicate change in position. The circles indicate the points of interest used for displacement calculations, and the arrows indicate direction of displacement with voluntary contraction.
Fig 2.
Data of the relationships between landmark displacement and muscle activity for a representative participant for each task; sub-maximal voluntary contraction, maximal voluntary contraction (MVC) and Valsalva.
MU–mid-urethra, UVJ–urethra-vesical junction, ARJ–ano-rectal junction, BP–bulb of penis, SUS–striated urethral sphincter, PR–puborectalis, BC–bulbocavernosus.
Fig 3.
Individual (shapes) and group data (lines) of the relationships between displacement of pelvic floor landmarks observed with transperineal US imaging and activity of the muscles predicted to cause the displacement.
Lines are generated using the mean R2, asymptote and curvature for the group. MU–mid-urethra, UVJ–urethra-vesical junction, ARJ–ano-rectal junction, BP–bulb of penis, SUS–striated urethral sphincter, PR–puborectalis, BC–bulbocavernosus.
Table 1.
Mean asymptote (“a”), curvature (“b”) and R2 values for each comparison of landmark displacement and EMG amplitude for sub-maximal contraction.
Table 2.
Mean asymptote (“a”), curvature (“b”) and R2 values for each comparison of landmark displacement and EMG amplitude for maximal voluntary contraction.
Table 3.
Mean asymptote (“a”), curvature (“b”) and R2 values for each comparison of landmark displacement and EMG amplitude for Valsalva,
Fig 4.
The relationship between displacement at the urethra-vesical junction (UVJ), puborectalis (PR) EMG and intra-abdominal pressure (IAP) for an individual participant during a repetition of the MVC task.
Data normalised to peak are shown (left) in addition to the corresponding raw data (right).