[Pelvic floor muscle training for urinary incontinence. Which training method is the most effective for people over...

More than half of the people over the age of 60 have urinary incontinence. It is therefore important to know which measures against urinary incontinence are effective. Pelvic floor muscle training is one of these methods. The purpose of this review is to show which pelvic floor muscle training is the most effective for people over the age of 60. A literature search, including studies published until June 2007, was undertaken in Medline, CINAHL, EMBASE, Cochrane, Gerolit and others. The keywords in English and German were (urinary) incontinence, pelvic floor, muscle training, age, old age and men. Five before-after studies, one case-controlled study, one follow-up study, four randomized controlled trials and two reviews were included. There is no evidence to suggest that one pelvic muscle training is better than another, due to the fact that studies and sample sizes are too small and due to quality differences. However, the methods called "The Knack" and "The Perineal Lock" (voluntarily contracting the pelvic floor before and during a sudden intra-abdominal pressure) seem to be the most effective.