Study design, materials and methods
This research was planned as a cross-sectional study. The study involved fifteen women aged 20 to 25 years. The socio-demographic characteristics of the participants was collected. PFM activity was assessed using the Neurotrac® Myoplus 2 Pro, a surface electromyography biofeedback device. After the participants understood the method for contracting the PFM, superficial electrodes were placed to the skin to the PFM and transversus abdominis muscle. Kinesthetic imagery and visual imagery ability were assessed with the Movement Imagery Questionnaire-3 (MIQ-3) and the Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire (VVIQ), respectively. Spearman correlation analysis was used to evaluate the correlation between the parameters. Significance level in statistical analysis was accepted as 0.05.
Results
The mean age and mean body mass index of the participants were 21.8±1.21 years and 23.9±3.72 kg/m2, respectively. It was found that mean the VVIQ was 62.8±7.18. The mean internal visual sub-parameter of HIA-3 was 5.8±0.65, the mean external visual sub-parameter was 5.60±1.08, and the mean kinesthetic sub-parameter was 5.60±0.97. The mean maximum voluntary contraction (MVC) of PFM in rapid (phasic), tonic and endurance contractions were found 49.7±10.6, 38.8±9.0 and 39.0±7.29, respectively. No correlation was found between the MIQ-3 and VVIQ and PFM phasic, tonic, and endurance contractions.
Interpretation of results
Our study found that the participants had relatively excellent levels of kinesthetic and visual imagery, as well as phasic, tonic, and endurance contractions of the PFM. However, we observed no relationship between imagery ability and PFM activity.