Pro et contra pelvic floor exercises for female stress urinary incontinence

Pelvic floor exercises are now established as a first line treatment for female urinary stress incontinence. This treatment modality can give substantial improvement in many patients. However, the incontinence is often not completely cured and the treatment requires a long term effort by the patient, which many are unable or unwilling to make. This paper discusses the pros and cons of pelvic floor exercises for stress incontinence and offers some guidelines for the selection of patients while emphasizing the importance of guided, intensive exercises and motivation to achieve the treatment goal.