50CD9B16.ai

Development of device for measuring the stiffness of pelvic
floor muscles: An tempt to develop a device for measuringpelvic floor muscles
Sakamoto Aa＊, Eguchi Tb, Yamaguchi Db, Wen Liang Yb, Gamada Kc, Fukuda Ob

A： Faculty of rehabilitation sciences, Nishikyusyu university, Kanzaki-shi, Saga, Japan b： Department of information science and engineering, Saga
University, Saga, Japan c：GLAB Co., Ltd., Higashihiroshima-shi, Hiroshima, Japan【Introduction】【Results】

Dysfunction of the pelvic floor muscles (PFM) contributes to persistent
postpartum urine leakage （Yamada,1993；Soave et al., 2019）.The head of thefetus during pregnancy presses on the bladder, changing the angle of thebladder sutra, the width and depth of the urethra during the effort (Jundtet al., 2010). .PFM are damaged by episiotomy and internal pressure due tochildbirth (Yamada, 1993). Muscle damage causes adhesions between fascia
and slip failure between muscles (Wilke et al., 2019). It is important toappropriately assess the causes of dysfunction of the PFM and selectthe treatment and exercise therapy that matches the cause. There areseveral measurements of PFM dysfunction.

Figure1. Ten trials at resting and contraction

In Reliability, The inter-examiner correlation coefficientof the new measurement showed a high value of 0.61～0.988(p<0.01) in the results of 10 times each at resting andcontraction(Fig1).

Aim: To develop a new measurement system based on 3-axis pressure
sensors to detect pelvic floor muscles elasticity which the dysfunctionof the PFM.

【Methods】

Figure2. Synthetic power of resting & contraction

In Rest, there was no differences between Rt. And Left.
In terms of contraction, the power was higher than rest
condition in downward PFM and lower than the resting
condition in upward PFM(Fig.2).

【Discussion】

Cleated the measurement
system Ver.2

Participants: 10 male (Ave age 19.8±0.3)
Evaluation of PFM elasticity at rest andcontraction
Measured 10 times each and the resultant forceof the peak values of the PFM in three directions
was calculated
In order to understand the actual contraction ofPFM, the movement of PFM during contraction atrest was measured using an ultrasound imaging
system (Viamo, SSA-640A, Toshiba MedicalCorporation) and a linear probe (PLT-1204ST,Toshiba Medical Corporation).
The ratio of the right force to the left force was calculated.
Based on the results of ultrasound imaging, the PFM groups weredivided into groups that moved upward and downward duringcontraction, and the results of the PFM group measurement
device were observed. For statistical analysis, SPSSVer20 (IBM,USA) was used to calculate the Cronbachα coefficient and theintra-class correlation coefficient between examiners.

The purpose of this study was to develop a new measuring device
that evaluates the dysfunction of the pelvic floor muscles, which isone of the causes of urine leakage, by the difference in muscle
elasticity, focusing on the elastic force of the PFM.. There was nodifference in the synthesis of the left and right pelvic floor muscles
at rest.. In the group where the PFM were downward on ultrasoundimages, the synthetic force increased slightly on both the left andright sides compared to rest. This is probably due to increased
elasticity of the PFM. In the group where the pelvic floor muscles
were upward on ultrasound imaging, elasticity decreased slightly
compared to rest because the PMF are rising. In the limitation,
regarding the contraction of the PFM, although the contraction
practice was performed before measurement, the contraction could
not be sustained, and it is possible that the force was lost when thesensor touched the PFM. Since the number of populations is small,
it is necessary to increase the number of populations and verify
them.
【Conclusion】
The difference in resultant force between resting andcontraction can be measured. It is possible to measure thedifference between the left and right sides of the resultant
force of the PFM at rest and the time of contraction.. Tus, thedeveloped measuring system evaluates the elasticity of PFM【Acknowledgment】
This work was supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Numbers JP 20K19160
and JKA and its promotion founds from KEIRIN RACE 2023P-389.
【Contact】
Corresponding Author: Asuka Sakamoto Email: sakamotoas@nisikyu-u.ac.jp