Postnatal pelvic floor screening clinics: a pilot study

Information regarding the importance of pelvic floor muscle (PFM) exercises during and after pregnancy is now available to most pregnant women and to women who have just given birth. However, despite the apparent availability of this information, there are many women who do not perform these exercises following childbirth, and many who only practice them occasionally. A survey of 48 postnatal women in Bolton revealed that although they had all heard about pelvic floor exercises, less than 50% practised them post-delivery and of those that did only 10% continued with regular daily exercises for more than 2 weeks after the birth of their child. Of greater concern was the wide variety in exercise techniques. It was decided to address this problem by offering informative postnatal education on PFM exercises and by training health visitors to digitally assess the pelvic floor and run screening clinics for women 3-12 months post-delivery. This article discusses the results of a pilot study that includes data on the first 28 women to attend the clinic.