ABSTRACT
Objective To investigate the improvement of postpartum pelvic floor by rehabilitation training assessed with three-dimensional transperineal ultrasound . Methods One hundred cases of healthy postpartum women were randomly divided into two groups :control group and training group .The control group received the customary education ,and the training group received pelvic floor rehabilitation training . At 6 and 12 weeks postpartum ,levator hiatus area ,thickness of the levator ani muscle ,bladder neck mobility ,and bladder posterior horn were measured with three-dimensional transperineal ultrasound in all the subjects . Meanwhile ,the muscle strength situations were tested . Results At 12 weeks postpartum ,the anal levator hiatal area ,bladder neck mobility and bladder posterior horn in the training group were lower than those of the control group[ ( 21 .6 ± 3 .2) cm 2 vs ( 25 .6 ± 2 .4 ) cm 2 ,( 27 .9 ± 5 .3) mm vs ( 31 .5 ± 5 .9) mm ,( 126 .3 ± 21 .2)° vs (135 .3 ± 11 .6)°] ( P < 0 .05) . Compared with control group ,the thickness of the levator ani muscle increased in training group [ ( 13 .6 ± 2 .3) mm vs ( 15 .3 ± 2 .5) mm ] ( P < 0 .05) . The incidence of stress urinary incontinence in the training group ( 5% ) was significantly lower than the control group ( 12 .5% ) at 12 weeks postpartum ( χ2 = 5 .487 , P = 0 .025) . The muscle strength had no significant difference at 6 weeks postpartum . At 12 weeks postpartum ,the pass rate of class Ⅰ muscle fiber was 78 .5% ,and that of class Ⅱ muscle fiber was 83 .3% in the training group ;the pass rate of class Ⅰ muscle fiber was 28 .5% ,and class Ⅱ muscle fiber was 37 .3% in the control group , the improvement was significant at 12 weeks postpartum . Conclusions The result of the transperineal real-time ultrasonographic evaluation of post-natal pelvic floor rehabilitation training has high consistency with the measurement of muscle strength . The ultrasound examination is simple and accurate ,and has highly applicable value in evaluating the effect of post-pelvic rehabilitation training .