POSTPARTUM women with increased pelvic floor muscle tone achieved greater reductions in resting muscle activity and stronger functional recovery when pelvic girdle muscle relaxation training was added to conventional pelvic floor rehabilitation, according to a randomised controlled trial.
Increased pelvic floor muscle tone is a common postpartum condition that can affect quality of life and contribute to symptoms including incontinence and sexual dysfunction.
Researchers evaluated whether adding structured pelvic girdle muscle relaxation training to vaginal electrical stimulation and biofeedback could improve outcomes in postpartum women with elevated resting surface electromyography readings greater than 4 microvolts (μv).
The study enrolled 190 postpartum women, who were randomly assigned to either conventional therapy alone or conventional therapy plus pelvic girdle muscle relaxation training.
Both groups completed 15 treatment sessions over 5 weeks, while the intervention group also performed seven targeted relaxation exercises daily.
Following treatment, resting surface electromyography values were significantly lower in the intervention group (3.22±1.35 μv) compared with controls (6.28±2.19 μv).
The intervention group also demonstrated stronger pelvic floor muscle performance and higher functional scores. Pelvic floor Glazer scores were significantly improved in the intervention group (76.6) compared with the control group (73.3).
Manual muscle strength assessments showed improvements in both groups, but women receiving relaxation training achieved higher post treatment muscle strength grades than those receiving standard rehabilitation alone.
Researchers noted significant gains in both tonic endurance and phasic power muscle function following the combined intervention.
However, no significant between group differences were observed for endurance contraction surface electromyography measures or pelvic organ prolapse quantification scores after treatment.
Both groups experienced improvements in pelvic organ prolapse severity measures over the study period.
The findings support a biomechanical approach to pelvic floor rehabilitation that extends beyond direct pelvic floor treatment.
Researchers suggested that reducing tension in the muscles surrounding the pelvis may help create a more favourable environment for pelvic floor relaxation and recovery.
While the results demonstrated promising short-term benefits, the researchers highlighted the need for longer term follow up and patient reported outcome measures to determine the durability and clinical relevance of these improvements.
The study’s authors concluded that integrating pelvic girdle muscle relaxation training into conventional rehabilitation may offer additional benefit for postpartum women with increased pelvic floor muscle tone.
Qu H et al. The effect of pelvic muscle relaxation training on the rehabilitation of patients with increased pelvic floor muscle tone: a randomized controlled trial. Sci Rep. 2026;DOI:10.1038/s41598-026-69552-w.
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