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CompletedNCT05181384Updated Sep 16, 2022

Pelvic Floor Muscles and Stabilization Integrated Training Improved Pregnancy-related Pelvic Girdle Pain

An interventional study of isolated pelvic floor muscles training and comprehensive stabilization exercise program in Pelvic Girdle Pain, sponsored by YI-JU TSAI. Completed at 1 site in Taiwan. Open to female participants aged 20 Years and older, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2022-09-16.

Sponsored by YI-JU TSAI · Not applicable, Interventional, and Treatment

From the registry’s dates

  • Registered 2 years 1 month after the study started (first participant enrolled Oct 2019, registered Nov 2021).
Phase
Not applicable
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
53
Allocation
Randomized
Ages
20 Years and older
Sex
Female
01

Study summary

Pregnancy-related pelvic girdle pain (PPGP) is a common musculoskeletal problem for women during pregnancy and after delivery. The main purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of integrated training for pelvic floor muscles (PFMs) and stabilization with and without transabdominal ultrasonography (TAUS) imaging-guided biofeedback on pain, disability, and physical function, and muscle functions for the abdominal muscles and PFMs in postpartum women with PPGP.

Read the detailed description

Many women have pregnancy-related pelvic girdle pain (PPGP), and about 30% with PPGP women still complain of pain after 1-year postpartum. Both physical and mental functions of PPGP women are impaired. Pelvic stabilization exercise with pelvic floor muscle training is believed to be effective for reducing pain and improved pelvic stability. However, intervention studies on PPGP women is limited and current evidence are controversial. Incorrect pelvic floor muscle activations may be partly contributed to these results. One previous study has showed about 60% of women cannot activate pelvic floor muscles correctly. Transabdominal sonography-guided biofeedback by observing bladder movements is no-invasive and benefit learning correct muscle contraction. Therefore, the main purposes for this study are to investigate the effects of pelvic stabilization training using transabdominal sonography-guided biofeedback in postpartum women with PPGP. A total of 50 postpartum PPGP women will be randomized into one of the two groups: (1) biofeedback group, (2) exercise group, (3) control group, and (4) health group. Subjects in the biofeedback group and exercise group will perform the same exercise training for 8 weeks except the subjects in the biofeedback group will receive transabdominal sonography-guided biofeedback of bladder movement for the first 4 weeks. The outcome assessment will include the muscle thickness of abdominal muscle and pelvic floor muscle control, functional performance of ASLR fatigue task, timed up and go and fast walking, pelvic girdle questionnaire (PGQ), and numeric rating scale (NRS). It is anticipated that the biofeedback group will have more improvements that the exercise group.

02

Conditions studied

  • Pelvic Girdle Pain

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Keywords

  • Pregnancy-related pelvic girdle pain
  • Postpartum women
  • Pelvic stabilization exercise
  • Pelvic floor muscles
  • Ultrasonography imaging
  • Biofeedback
03

In context

Pelvic Girdle Pain

58 studies on the registry are indexed under Pelvic Girdle Pain; 12 are open to participants now.

This study's enrollment of 53 is close to the median of 57 across 41 interventional studies indexed under Pelvic Girdle Pain.

Browse Pelvic Girdle Pain studies →

Lead sponsor

YI-JU TSAI is the lead sponsor of 5 studies on the registry; 2 are open to participants now.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
20 Years and older
Sexes eligible
Female
Accepts healthy volunteers
Yes

Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.

Inclusion criteria

  • postpartum : ≥ 3 months
  • pregnancy-related pelvic pain
  • pain location is located between posterior iliac crest and gluteal fold
  • Clinical screening test for pelvic pain: ASLR : positive and SI joint ≥ 2 (+ symphysis ≥ 1)

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • lumbar or pelvic surgery
  • lother causes of pelvic pain (such as fractures)
  • lRadiculopathy
  • lother health problems, such as cancer, cardiovascular disease, rheumatism , etc
  • ldaily activities limited , unable to complete the experiment
  • lcommunication disorders
  • lmental disorder
  • lpregnancy
  • lhave been trained in stable muscle strength in the past.
05

Study design

Phase
Not applicable
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention model
Parallel assignment
Masking
Single (Participant)
Enrollment
53 participants (actual)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    Transabdominal Sonography-guided Biofeedback group

    pelvic floor muscle training with transabdominal sonography-guided Biofeedback

    Other: isolated pelvic floor muscles training · Other: comprehensive stabilization exercise program · Other: education of pelvic girdle

  • Active comparator
    Exercise group

    pelvic floor muscle training

    Other: isolated pelvic floor muscles training · Other: comprehensive stabilization exercise program · Other: education of pelvic girdle

  • Placebo comparator
    Control group

    pelvic girdle education

    Other: education of pelvic girdle

Interventions

  • Otherisolated pelvic floor muscles training

    isolated pelvic floor muscles training was emphasized, consisting of both quick and sustained contractions.

  • Othercomprehensive stabilization exercise program

    incorporated the contraction of PFMs with other spinal or extremity muscles

  • Othereducation of pelvic girdle

    educational session includes pelvic anatomy, mechanism of and risk factors for PPGP, and proper posture or body mechanism

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. pain intensity measure of Numeric Rating Scale (NRS)

    Numeric Rating Scale (NRS) is a self-reported instrument assessing average pain intensity in currently. Possible score range from 0 (no pain) to 10 (worst possible pain).

    Time frame: Change from baseline to 8 weeks

  2. pain intensity measure of pelvic girdle questionnaire(PGQ)

    pelvic girdle questionnaire(PGQ) is a self-reported instrument assessing pelvic girdle pain intensity in currently. Questionnaire consisting of 20 activity items and 5 symptom items on a 4-point response scale. Possible score range from 0 (no pain) to 100 (worst possible pain).

    Time frame: Change from baseline to 8 weeks

Secondary outcomes

  1. functional performance of ASLR fatigue task

    Participants lifted the heel of the test leg to 20 cm for as long as possible. Participants were required to maintain pressure in the cuff beneath their back as close to 40 mm Hg as possible. Visual feedback of cuff pressure was provided throughout the task, but no instruction was given on how to affect cuff pressure. Task failure was defi ned as an inability to maintain heel height 10 cm or more off the plinth and/or a change in cuff pressure of 20 mm Hg or more.

    Time frame: Change from baseline to 8 weeks

  2. functional performance of timed up and go test

    Test instructions were given in Norwegian. Translated into English, the instructions were as follows: 'After "ready, set, go" stand up, walk as fast as you can until you cross the white line, turn around, and walk back to the chair and sit down again'. The white line was positioned 3m from the patient's starting position. 'After "ready, set, go" stand up, walk as fast as you can until you cross the white line, turn around, and walk back to the chair and sit down again'. The white line was positioned 3m from the patient's starting position.

    Time frame: Change from baseline to 8 weeks

  3. functional performance of 6m timed walk test (fast walking)

    Subjects commenced the test in standing with their toes up against the tape marker. Test instructions translated into English were as follows: 'After "ready, set, go", walk as fast as you can up to the last white line without stopping or speaking along the way'. Performances were timed (to the nearest 100th of a second) between the 2m and 8m markers and later converted into speed in metres per second.

    Time frame: Change from baseline to 8 weeks

  4. Muscle function measures of abdominal muscle

    Untrasonography image for muscle thickness of abdominal muscle during rest and ASLR test.

    Time frame: Change from baseline to 8 weeks

  5. Muscle function measures of pelvic floor muscle control

    Untrasonography image for muscle thickness of pelvic floor muscle control at maximum contraction.

    Time frame: Change from baseline to 8 weeks

07

Study locations

1 site
  • National Cheng Kung University
    Tainan, Taiwan
08

Timeline

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
ElapsedEstimatedEstimated, not yet reachedSimilar studies: half by the dot; the band is the middle halfHalf of similar studies reached it by the dot; the band is the middle half, from a quarter to three quarters

Ran from Oct 2019 to primary completion in Jun 2020, 8 months.

Of 29 interventional studies with no phase under Pelvic Girdle Pain, half reached primary completion within 10 months of starting (the median), counting those still running; a quarter within 6 and three quarters within 59. This study's 8 months is below that.

How these figures are worked out, and which studies are left out of them.

Registered
Nov 24, 2021
First posted
Jan 6, 2022
StartActual
Oct 15, 2019
Primary completionActual
Jun 30, 2020
CompletionActual
Jul 31, 2022
Last update
Sep 16, 2022
What these dates mean
Start.
When the first participant enrolled; while estimated, when the study expects to open to recruitment.
Primary completion.
When the last participant was examined or treated to collect data for the study's main question, its primary outcome. A study that stopped early gives the date its data collection stopped.
Completion.
When the last participant's last visit took place, for every outcome, secondary ones and side effects included: the end of the study. Often later than primary completion, sometimes the same day.
Actual and Est.
Actual means the registry says the date has happened. Est. (estimated) is a date the sponsor plans or expects. It can still move, and the sponsor is expected to change it to actual once it has passed.
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Sep 16, 2022, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
09

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT05181384
Lead sponsor
YI-JU TSAI
Responsible party
YI-JU TSAI (professor, National Cheng Kung University) — Sponsor-investigator
First posted
Jan 6, 2022
Start date
Oct 15, 2019
Primary completion
Jun 30, 2020
Completion
Jul 31, 2022
Last update
Sep 16, 2022

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
Yes
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

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This study is completed, as verified in Sep 2022. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.

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