Postnatal pelvic floor muscle stiffness measured by vaginal elastometry in women with obstetric anal sphincter injury: a pilot study.

Our observation that high postnatal PFM stiffness values showed a trend towards association with delayed second stage of labour, instrumental (forceps) vaginal delivery and LA muscle defects on MRI is intriguing given that it could be expected that childbirth-induced trauma to the LA muscle, especially when attributable to instrumental forceps delivery for prolonged second stage of labour, would result in lower postnatal LA muscle passive stiffness values, and a higher likelihood of postnatal persistence of urinary, bowel, or sexual symptoms, although these symptoms may be attributable to perineal muscle rather than levator trauma.

also in 53,322 other papers