Fundamentals of terminology in pelvic floor muscle assessment: A concise reference

A comprehensive standardization of terminology document of the assessment of female and male pelvic floor muscle (PFM) function and dysfunction was published in 2021. A summary of this terminology document was required to provide an overview of the most commonly-used assessment methods and tools in clinical practice, for ease of use by clinicians in their everyday practice. This summary report contains commonly used terms for symptoms, signs, investigations and diagnoses related to PFM function and dysfunction, extracted from the full, comprehensive standardization of terminology document. This summary report represents a concise document for clinicians in their assessment of PFM function and dysfunction, which may offer a quick reference for the busy clinician. In alignment with the full standardization of terminology document, this summary document is not intended to be a recommendation of assessment methods and tools to use in clinical practice or research; rather it is intended to be a summary reference paper for standardized description and definition of assessment method and interpretation of finding when a particular term is used. Psychometric and clinimetric properties of these terms are eagerly awaited, in order to guide decisions in clinical practice and research of the preferred assessment method(s)/tool(s) to measure a particular PFM property.