Assessment of Pelvic Floor Strength Variables in Female Nulliparous Athletes

Completed

• Conditions: Pelvic Floor Muscle Weakness; Strength; Muscle Tone
• Interventions: Diagnostic Test: Pelvic floor muscles contractile capacity and activation

• Registration Number: NCT06626841
• Lead Sponsor: Universidad Politecnica de Madrid

Brief Summary

Functional Fitness Training (FFT) is a modality that seeks to improve physical fitness and performance within several functional tasks by conducting a variety of training activities such as aerobic and metabolic conditioning, resistance training, and high impact exercises. Although there are many benefits of FFT for improving fitness and body composition, their effects on the pelvic floor are not clear, as high-impact exercises performed in FFT have been shown to cause an increase in intra-abdominal pressure. When these exercises are performed repeatedly, fatigue can occur within the pelvic floor muscles (PFM), which can increase the risk of developing pelvic floor dysfunctions. However, currently little is known about how FFT activities acutely affect the PFM and whether such training regimes may contribute to long-term urinary incontinence in female FFT athletes. Therefore, this study aimed to analyse the acute effects of a FFT.workout on pelvic floor strength and muscle activation in nulliparous female FFT athletes. It is hypothesized that both strength and PFM activation of the female athletes would be reduced after a FFT workout due to PFM fatigue.

Detailed Description

Not available

Study Timeline

• Study Start: 2023-04-21
• Primary Completion: 2023-06-03
• Study Completion: 2023-06-03
• Study First Submitted: 2024-09-29
• Status Verified: 2024-10
• Study First Submitted QC: 2024-10-02
• Last Update Submitted: 2024-10-02
• Study First Posted: 2024-10-04
• Last Update Posted: 2024-10-04

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: COMPLETED
• Sex: Female
• Target Recruitment: 23

Inclusion Criteria

• Nulliparous
• Have been practicing FFT or weightlifting for at least 2 years
• Train a minimum of 3 days/week that did not include pelvic floor exercises
• Have no medical contraindications or previous pelvic floor surgeries

Exclusion Criteria

• Any criterion that fails to meet the inclusion criteria

Study & Design

• Study Type: OBSERVATIONAL
• Study Design: Not specified

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
Female athletes	Pelvic floor muscles contractile capacity and activation	Female functional fitness training athletes. The participants had to be nulliparous, had been practicing FFT or weightlifting for at least 2 years, trained a minimum of 3 days/week that did not include pelvic floor exercises, and had no medical contraindications or previous pelvic floor surgeries

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Muscle activation	Change from baseline to the end of the workout, around 1 hour.	To assess muscle activation, a vaginal dynamometer (pelvimeter probe fixed at a vertex with two arms that can be separated by up to 25°), connected to the Phenix USB2, Vivaltis (Pelvimètre Phenix, Vivaltis) is used. For the pelvic floor examination the physiotherapist introduces the closed pelvimeter inside the vagina with the supporting arm against the posterior face of the symphysis pubis. Once introduced, the probe is opened by 5º and the basal muscle activation (initial inertia index) and shock absorption (the capacity of the pelvic floor to withstand stress) are recorded.
Strength	Change from baseline to the end of the workout, around 1 hour.	Maximal, minimum and medium force production of the pelvic floor muscles. The physiotherapist introduces the closed pelvimeter inside the vagina with the supporting arm against the posterior face of the symphysis pubis. Once introduced, the physiotherapist fixed the arms of the probe at 5º with the athlete performing a pelvic floor contraction for 10 seconds against the arms (isometric contraction). A follow-up 10-second contraction is performed after a 20-second rest to assess PFM submaximal force.

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

Universidad Politécnica de Madrid; 🇪🇸 Madrid, Spain