The pelvic floor musculature (PFM) plays a role that influences bladder, intestinal and sexual functions and when this musculature is affected, it can develop several symptoms with high prevalence in the female population. For women of reproductive age, every month passed by menstrual periods could have dysmenorrhea, a source of chronic pelvic pain originating from a difficult menstrual flow. There are few data on the influence of dysmenorrhea on other PFM disorders.

To correlate dysmenorrhea with PFM disorders in young nulliparous women.

A descriptive, observational, cross-sectional study with a quantitative approach was carried out. Enrollment was optional, with women aged between 18 and 30 years old, nulliparous, who had never been pregnant, had already experienced their first sexual intercourse and who did not have their menstruation on the day of the assessment. The evaluation was carried out through the application of tests (socio-clinical, International Consultation on Incontinence Questionnaire-Short Form, Pelvic Floor Distress Inventory, Visual Analog Scale (VAS) and, later, through the physical examination of the strength of the PFM through the Perfect scheme. Data were analyzed according to the sample's normality distribution, comparing the groups with and without pelvic floor dysfunction according to the presence of dysmenorrhea using the t-test for independent samples. The Statistical Program for Social Science program (version 23) was used, considering a significance level of 5%.

The sample was fixed by 45 women (median age 21 years). The prevalence of dysmenorrhea was 77.7% with pain intensity 5 (2 - 6.50) on the VAS scale. The main symptoms of premenstrual tension were those of an emotional nature, such as irritability (84.4%), anxiety (73.3%), desire to cry (71.1%) and sadness (71.1%). The sample showed muscle weakness with a median of 3 (2 – 3) in the Perfect scheme, and 24.4% of the sample reported some type of urinary incontinence, and 17.7% had constipation. The group with dysmenorrhea had worse vaginal (p=0.04) and intestinal (p=0.03) dysfunctions. There was interference between dysmenorrhea, vaginal (R=0.81) and intestinal (R=0.57) disorders.

Dysmenorrhea is prevalent in young nulliparous women with an association between vaginal and intestinal dysfunctions, this population presents pelvic floor muscle weakness and symptoms of premenstrual tension predominantly of an emotional nature.

In scientific terms, this study demonstrated that PFM dysfunctions are a reality among young nulliparous women and that women with dysmenorrhea every month may be more subject to vaginal and intestinal dysfunctions with possible chronic implications for their health. In clinical terms, it is important to consider the complaint of dysmenorrhea in the evaluation and to question and physically assess the bladder, vaginal, sexual, and intestinal functions that may be associated.