The pelvic floor and diaphragm work together in many different functions. Two important functions are breathing and continence. The pelvic floor muscles have to lift and squeeze to maintain continence. Breathing, specifically breathing out, makes the pelvic floor lift. The investigators don't know how much the pelvic floor lifts and squeezes during different types of breathing out. The purpose of this study is to measure pelvic floor lift and squeeze during different types of breathing out.
The pelvic floor (PF) activates automatically, both squeezing and lifting, during times of increased intra-abdominal pressure for postural stability and continence. Expiration additionally produces automatic activation of the PF. No study to date has investigated the effects of forced expiration on PF displacement and squeeze pressure. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of variations in forced expiration effort on PF muscles' automatic activation.
Study Type
OBSERVATIONAL
Enrollment
18
Subjects perform a forced expiration at minimum effort
Subjects perform a forced expiration at moderate effort
Subjects perform a forced expiration at maximum effort
Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, Clinical Musculoskeletal Research Laboratory
Lubbock, Texas, United States
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