Functional assessment of the female pelvic floor.

Author(s): H. Keeble - Pages: 27–30

Abstract

Functional assessment of the female pelvic floor provides huge benefits for patients suffering from pelvic floor dysfunction during upright postures and/or movements. The physiotherapist is able to complete an upright assessment of the vagina and pelvic floor muscles during the same amount of time and in the same space in which they would complete a traditional crook lying assessment. However, validated measures for upright pelvic floor assessments are yet to be developed. As a starting point, key factors for inclusion within an upright assessment are set out in this paper. The same task performed by different individuals yields varying amounts of intra-abdominal pressure, and therefore, makes assorted demands on the pelvic floor. The results of crook lying assessments are not completely interchangeable with those of standing evaluations. For this reason, there is a need for physiotherapists to increase their skill set so that they can confidently assess the pelvic floor in upright and more-functional positions.

Keywords: functional assessment, functional pelvic floor, pelvic floor muscle assessment, standing assessment.