Electromyographic Comparisons of the Pelvic Floor in Women with Dysesthetic Vulvodynia and Asymptomatic Women

Objective: To compare surface electromyographic (EMG) studies of the pelvic floor in women diagnosed with dysesthetic vulvodynia to those of women with no urologic or gynecologic symptoms.

Study Design: Fifty women were chosen to participate and placed in one of two diagnostic categories, asymptomatic (no report of urogynecologic abnormalities, n = 25) and those diagnosed with dysesthetic vulvodynia (n = 25). Testing was completed utilizing electromyographic equipment; an inserted, single-user vaginal sensor; and the Glazer protocol. sEMG variables compared were pretest and posttest resting amplitudes, contractile amplitudes, contractile and resting stability, recruitment latency and recovery, and muscle contraction spectral analysis.

Results: The most reliable predictors of symptomatic women were pelvic floor contractile amplitudes of the tonic, phasic and endurance contractions, though 9 of the 15 variables tested proved significant. The phasic (three-second) contractions of the symptomatic group were 46% less than in the pain-free group. Tonic (12-second) contractions were 49% less, and endurance (60-second) contractions proved to be only 47% of those produced by those with no dysfunction.

Conclusion: The results of EMG studies of the pelvic floor in women diagnosed with dysesthetic vulvodynia proved significantly different from those of their urogynecologically asymptomatic cohorts. Physiology of the pelvic floor is an essential piece of knowledge needed to further study the etiology and causative factors in dysesthetic vulvodynia. Though the sample size used in this study was not sufficient to quantify normal pelvic floor function, the study certainly suggests sufficient significant differences between the two groups to merit further study.