Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 19, 2026
Anogenital Distance and Perineal Measurements of the Pelvic Organ Prolapse (POP) Quantification System
Published on: September 20, 2018
Physiotherapy as an adjunct to prolapse surgery: an assessor-blinded randomized controlled trial
Helena C Frawley1, Bev A Phillips, Kari Bø
1Melbourne Physiotherapy School, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia.
Introduction:
This assessor-blinded randomized controlled trial investigated the effect of a pre- and post-operative physiotherapy-supervised pelvic floor muscle (PFM) training program in women undergoing surgery for prolapse or hysterectomy.
Methods:
Participants were assessed pre-operatively, and at 3, 6, and 12 months post-operatively by a blinded physiotherapy assessor. Following randomization, participants were allocated to a control group (CG) which included "usual care" (as provided by the surgeon and the hospital staff), or a treatment group (TG) which included one pre-operative and seven post-operative treatment sessions over 12 months. Primary outcomes were bladder and prolapse symptoms, measured by the Urogenital Distress Inventory (UDI) and the Incontinence Impact Questionnaire (IIQ).
Results:
Fifty-one participants were randomized. The 12-month post-operative findings showed there was no difference in the prevalence of the primary outcomes (ORs 1.2, 1.3). There were no significant differences between groups on the change scores of the UDI (mean: 44.1 [5.1]; 54.0 [5.4], P = 0.20) nor the IIQ (median: 0.0 [9,14]; 10.0 [5,19], P = 0.09). The repeated measures analyses also demonstrated no significant changes.
Conclusion:
The program tested did not improve bladder or prolapse symptoms in this trial. Reasons may include the effectiveness of surgery alone, wide variance in data, small sample size, insufficient training by the TG, and PFM training by the usual care group.
