Fundamentals of terminology in pelvic floor muscle assessment: A concise reference

Abstract

Introduction:

A comprehensive standardization of terminology document of the assessment of female and male pelvic floor muscle (PFM) function and dysfunction was published in 2021. A summary of this terminology document was required to provide an overview of the most commonly-used assessment methods and tools in clinical practice, for ease of use by clinicians in their everyday practice.

Methods:

This summary report contains commonly used terms for symptoms, signs, investigations and diagnoses related to PFM function and dysfunction, extracted from the full, comprehensive standardization of terminology document.

Results:

This summary report represents a concise document for clinicians in their assessment of PFM function and dysfunction, which may offer a quick reference for the busy clinician.

Conclusion:

In alignment with the full standardization of terminology document, this summary document is not intended to be a recommendation of assessment methods and tools to use in clinical practice or research; rather it is intended to be a summary reference paper for standardized description and definition of assessment method and interpretation of finding when a particular term is used. Psychometric and clinimetric properties of these terms are eagerly awaited, in order to guide decisions in clinical practice and research of the preferred assessment method(s)/tool(s) to measure a particular PFM property.