Associations Between Masseter Muscles Tension, Postural Pattern, Pelvic Type and Postural Stability in Women with Pelvic Organ Prolapse

Background: This study aimed to examine the associations of pelvic type and body posture pattern with masseter muscle measurements and postural stability parameters in women with POP, and to assess the relationship between masseter muscle measurements and postural stability under eyes-open and eyes-closed conditions. Methods: This observational study included 61 women: 31 with advanced POP (grade 3–4 according to the Pelvic Organ Prolapse Quantification system [POP-Q]) and 30 healthy controls. Masseter muscle measurements, postural stability parameters (center-of-pressure sway and surface area), body posture pattern, and pelvic type were assessed. Postural stability was measured with eyes open and closed. Two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), Tukey’s post-hoc test, and Pearson’s correlation coefficient were used for statistical analysis. Results: Pelvic type was not significantly associated with any of the analyzed parameters. Body posture pattern was associated with significant differences in most postural stability parameters (p < 0.05) under both visual conditions, with the highest values observed in women with a posterior posture pattern. Conclusions: In women with advanced POP, body posture pattern was associated with differences in postural stability parameters, whereas no statistically significant associations were observed for pelvic type. No statistically significant correlations were detected between masseter muscle measurements and postural stability. These findings should be interpreted cautiously, given the observational study design, and do not establish causal relationships.