Overactive pelvic floor muscles (OPFM): improving diagnostic accuracy with clinical examination and functional studies

Undiagnosed lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) and pelvic pain remain a challenge to medical practitioners. Many of these patients were provisionally diagnosed with chronic pelvic pain, chronic non-bacterial prostatitis, chronic orchialgia and overactive bladder, and have not improved despite multiple regimens of antibiotics, anticholinergics and antispasmodics (1). We believe a majority of these patients have chronically raised pelvic muscle tone, known as overactive pelvic floor muscles (OPFM). Various terms have been used to describe this condition, including hyperactive pelvic floor disorder, pelvic floor tension syndrome, levator ani syndrome and proctalgia fugax