- Introduction
About 40 % of the women worldwide suffer from Pelvic Floor Dysfunctions [1]. In previous studies, musculoskeletal simulations helped to understand and facilitate the complex issues of musculoskeletal disorders in several different branches [2, 3]. A fundamental prerequisite for the generation of these models is to have a basic understanding of the stresses acting on the pelvic floor. The aim of this study is to investigate the biomechanical factors influencing the activity of the pelvic floor muscles by establishing a parameterised model.
Methods
To identify the factors that affect the pelvic floor muscles, the process is divided into several stages. The first step is to investigate the loads acting on the pelvic floor. For this, a simplified sagittal cross-sectional model of the upper body is analysed. The discretization of the abdominal cavity is presented with resulting force vectors representing the organs in the abdominal and pelvic region, the tensile force of the structures that fixate the organs as well as the intraabdominal pressure.
A second step is the examination of the basic mechanics of the pelvic floor muscles. As the functional anatomy of these muscles demonstrate differences compared to other muscle groups [4], the understanding of how they differ is crucial for the construction of musculoskeletal models.
After a static examination of loads on a simplified muscle model, an extended model including the physiological properties of a muscle must be involved in the considerations. Therefore, the influence of parameters such as the ideal muscle strength and fibre length, as well as elasticity or passive stiffness of the elements must be taken into account. The influencing factors of the variables can be analysed in a simplified pelvic floor muscle model by systematically changing the parameters.
Results
The process of analysing the factors influencing the activity of the pelvic floor muscles follows two main strategies. The review of the effects of the whole body identifies the forces acting on the pelvic floor muscles and effect their activity.
With the examination of the basic mechanics of a simplified pelvic floor muscle model a better understanding is achieved of how the pelvic floor muscles absorb the loads acting in the body.
Discussion
This process results in the main influence factors on the activity of the pelvic floor. The consequent parameters form the basis for a biomechanically justified construction of musculoskeletal simulation models of the pelvic floor. Nevertheless, it must be considered, that these mechanical studies represent simplifications of the reality.
References
1. Wang et al, Front Public Health, 10:975829, 2022.
2. Bulat et al., Curr Sports Med Rep, 18(6):210-216, 2019
3. Melzner et al., Eur J Obstet Gynecol Reprod Biol, 264:306-313, 2021
4. Ashton-Miller et al., Ann N Y Acad Sci, 1101:266-96, 2007
