The Evaluation of Pelvic Floor Muscle Function: A Reliability and Correlation Study

This is a study using a randomized crossover blind method.All the volunteers are divided into 2 groups randomly. At the first time, a gynecological physician evaluates patient's pelvic floor muscle strength by vaginal palpation based on modified Oxford Grading Scale(MOS) and Levator ani testing(LAT) without telling patient her result, and record it on a unique paper other than in the Case Report Form. At the same day, patient will be tested by inspector A or B randomly twice with the PHENIX instrument.A 5 minutes' interval is needed between two tests in order to reduce the possibility of fatigue of pelvic floor muscles. The outcome is secretive to the patient as well. A second time evaluation is required in 3 days' later by a different inspector from the first time.(interrater and intrarater) All the data including strength of MOS and LAT, the outcomes by inspector A and B, cannot be collected together and told to the patient until she finished the whole process. Pelvic floor muscle training is not permitted during the evaluations.