First, test yourself for the length of time you can hold a pelvic floor contraction. To do this, repeat the finger test, but this time count the number of seconds you can hold the muscles up in the inward squeeze. This is a measure of muscular endurance, or how long can your pelvic floor muscles can go before they begin to tire.
After you know the length of time your pelvic floor muscles can endure, the next test is for the strength of the contraction. In other words, how many of these contractions can you perform before the muscle becomes fatigued? Perform as many of them as you can. Count as you go and take note of the number.
The third step is to clock how much rest you need between your contractions.
The final step in the strength and endurance assessment is to test for the performance of fast working muscle fibers of the pelvic floor muscles. To do this perform inward upward squeezes just as fast and as hard as you can, and count the number you can do before fatiguing. Do not stop for a break until you are done with the whole set.
Make note of all these measurements so that you can see how you progress with the strengthening program.
Chiarelli recommends seeing a urinary continence specialist if you have not been able to locate the contraction of your pelvic floor muscles at any time during this assessment.
