Is there any difference in pelvic floor muscles performance between continent and incontinent women?

AIMS: To compare pelvic floor muscles (PFMs) performance in women with and without stress urinary incontinence (SUI) during endurance test. METHODS: It is a prospective case-control clinical trial. After determining PFM maximal voluntary contraction (MVC) by electromyography (EMG), women underwent endurance test, which consisted of consecutively PFM 1-sec fast contractions reaching MVC amplitude followed by 1-sec rest. Training time guided by Borg perceived exertion scale was noted. Heart rate (HR) behavior and EMG variables were assessed before and after training making a physiological analysis in both groups. RESULTS: A total of 56 women, mean age 52.19 years old, were evaluated (26 continent and 30 incontinent women). The time that SUI and continent women took to reach fatigue (Borg 10) was 9.1 ± 4.7 and 14.19 ± 8.32 min, respectively (P = 0.006). Confirming that all women performed similar effort during the test, analysis of variance with repeated measures showed that during the endurance test both groups presented similar increase in HR, showing detectable and significant increase from resting time to Borg 10 (P < 0.001). Besides, there was similar behavior in EMG for continent and SUI women, with a decrease from the baseline resting amplitude (P = 0.003 for SUI women and P = 0.006 for continent women). CONCLUSIONS: Women with SUI showed worse performance during an endurance test than continent women. It suggests that women have different capacity to perform PFM training. An initial evaluation based on PFM performance would help to define the best individualized PFM training.

Evaluation of heart rate variability in trained and sedentary climacteric women.

BACKGROUND: Changes in autonomic cardiac function are frequent during menopause, and various methods have been used to understand and minimize them. OBJECTIVE: To study the interference of dynamic aerobic physical activity on heart rate variability (HRV) in climacteric women. METHODS: Cross-sectional study that analyzed HRV in 15 menopausal women (mean age 56.8+/-4.9 years) who had participated in physical training (one-hour walks, 3 times a week) for at least two years (active group), and 15 menopausal women (mean age 56.5 +/- 3.7 years) who were sedentary (sedentary group). None of the volunteers received hormonal replacement therapy. HRV data were compared between the groups by means of the Mann Whitney U Test. RESULTS: There were significant differences both in the frequency and time domains of the following variables of HRV (in medians) for the active e sedentary groups, respectively: total power (22,626.50 ms(2) and 4,432.10 ms(2)), low frequency component (741.20 ms(2) and 131.70 ms(2)), high frequency component (668.90 ms(2) and 131.70 ms(2)), standard deviations of RR intervals (51.60 ms and 22.50 ms), square root of the sum of squares of differences between the normal RR intervals (35.30 ms and 15.90 ms), and percentage of normal adjacent RR intervals greater than 50 ms (6.6% and 0.2%). CONCLUSION: The study suggests that aerobic training may have afforded a significant improvement in the autonomic cardiac function of the menopausal women in the active group, and may be a useful option for preserving this functional condition without the need for hormonal replacement therapy.

Avaliação da variabilidade da freqüência cardíaca em mulheres climatéricas treinadas e sedentárias / Evaluation of heart rate variability in trained and sedentary climacteric women

FUNDAMENTO: Alterações da função autonômica cardíaca são freqüentes no climatério e diferentes métodos têm sido empregados para conhecê-las e minimizá-las. OBJETIVO: Estudar a interferência da atividade física dinâmica aeróbica de baixa intensidade sobre a variabilidade da freqüência cardíaca (VFC) de mulheres climatéricas. MÉTODOS: Estudo transversal que analisou a VFC de 15 mulheres climatéricas com média de idade de 56,8 ± 4,9 anos, que já se encontravam em treinamento físico (caminhada de uma hora diária, três vezes por semana) há pelo menos dois anos (grupo ativo), e de 15 mulheres climatéricas (56,5 ± 3,7 anos) sedentárias (grupo sedentário). Todas as voluntárias não faziam uso de reposição hormonal. Os dados da VFC foram comparados entre os grupos por meio do teste U de Mann-Whitney. RESULTADOS: Houve diferenças significativas tanto no domínio da freqüência como no domínio do tempo das seguintes variáveis da VFC, em medianas, para os grupos ativo e sedentário, respectivamente: potência total (22.626,50 ms² e 4.432,10 ms²), componente baixa freqüência (741,20 ms² e 131,70 ms²), componente alta freqüência (668,90 ms² e 131,70 ms²), desvios padrão dos intervalos RR (51,60 ms e 22,50 ms), raiz quadrada da soma dos quadrados das diferenças entre os intervalos RR (35,30 ms e 15,90 ms) e porcentagem de intervalos RR adjacentes maiores que 50 ms (6,6 por cento e 0,2 por cento). CONCLUSÃO: O estudo sugere que o treinamento aeróbio pode ter propiciado significativa melhoria da função autonômica cardíaca das mulheres climatéricas do grupo ativo, podendo ser uma opção útil para preservar essa condição funcional sem necessidade de terapias de reposição hormonal.

BACKGROUND: Changes in autonomic cardiac function are frequent during menopause, and various methods have been used to understand and minimize them. OBJECTIVE: To study the interference of dynamic aerobic physical activity on heart rate variability (HRV) in climacteric women. METHODS: Cross-sectional study that analyzed HRV in 15 menopausal women (mean age 56.8±4.9 years) who had participated in physical training (one-hour walks, 3 times a week) for at least two years (active group), and 15 menopausal women (mean age 56.5 ± 3.7 years) who were sedentary (sedentary group). None of the volunteers received hormonal replacement therapy. HRV data were compared between the groups by means of the Mann Whitney U Test. RESULTS: There were significant differences both in the frequency and time domains of the following variables of HRV (in medians) for the active e sedentary groups, respectively: total power (22,626.50 ms² and 4,432.10 ms²), low frequency component (741.20 ms² and 131.70 ms²), high frequency component (668.90 ms² and 131.70 ms²), standard deviations of RR intervals (51.60 ms and 22.50 ms), square root of the sum of squares of differences between the normal RR intervals (35.30ms and 15.90 ms), and percentage of normal adjacent RR intervals greater than 50ms (6.6 percent and 0.2 percent). CONCLUSION: The study suggests that aerobic training may have afforded a significant improvement in the autonomic cardiac function of the menopausal women in the active group, and may be a useful option for preserving this functional condition without the need for hormonal replacement therapy.