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Effectiveness of Pelvic Floor Muscle Strength Training to Prevent and Treat Urinary Incontinence in Postpartum
Alfonso Javier Ibáñez-Vera1, María Cano-Castilla2, María Victoria Carazo-Carrasco2
1Department of Health Sciences, University of Jaen, Jaen, Spain.
Objectives:
To analyze the effectiveness of active physiotherapy of the pelvic floor as a method of prevention and treatment in primiparous postpartum women.
Methods:
PubMed (MEDLINE), SCOPUS, Web of Science, CINAHL Complete, and PEDro databases were searched to identify clinical trials that included primiparous postpartum women that compared the effects of active physiotherapy of the pelvic floor during postpartum, and the degree of urinary incontinence was measured. Data extraction was conducted by 2 authors using a Microsoft Excel sheet, with a third author involved in case of discrepancy or doubt.
Results:
A total of 5 studies were selected, including 444 primiparous postpartum women, 222 of whom received active physiotherapy of the pelvic floor. The results were very heterogeneous; 2 of the studies did not find significant differences between the groups, one study showed a clear improvement in the intervention group, and in the other studies, a significant intragroup improvement was found post-intervention. There was no significant difference in muscle resistance and strength (P < 0.05), but if applied combined with biofeedback, there was a clear improvement (P = 0.001). Regarding urinary symptoms, there was an improvement in the intervention group (P < 0.05).
Conclusions:
This systematic review indicates that pelvic floor muscle training is an effective intervention to prevent and treat urinary incontinence in postpartum women. Pelvic floor muscle training is effective in improving pelvic floor strength and reducing urinary incontinence symptoms.
