Pelvic floor muscle electrical coupling in chronic pelvic pain: Insights into pathophysiology and botulinum toxin treatment effects

Abstract

This study aimed to assess the electrical coupling between both pelvic floor muscle (PFM) sides (two-sided coupling) and within individual PFM sides (one-sided coupling) in chronic pelvic pain (CPP) before and after botulinum neurotoxin type A (BoNT/A) treatment. Surface electromyographic (sEMG) signals were recorded from the left and right PFM of 24 patients (P) with CPP before and after being treated with BoNT/A (Weeks 0,8,12,24). Recordings were also made in 24 healthy women (H). PFM two-sided and one-sided coupling was evaluated during contractions by the cross-correlation (CC) and the imaginary part of coherency (iCOH) of their sEMG signals. Significant differences between their values were assessed comparing P(0) vs. P(8,12,24) and H vs. P(0,8,12,24). This study showed that PFM two-sided coupling is similar across groups before treatment, while PFM one-sided coupling on the patients’ most painful side is deranged before and also after BoNT/A treatment: amplitude coupling is lower (<CC) and phase difference is greater (>iCOH) than healthy women’s. This could be justified by altered neuromotor control strategies developed as an adaptation to muscle pain, structural and electrical changes in PFM, and alterations in their innervation pattern, which may influence the onset, perpetuation, or recurrence of CPP after treatment.