Conocimiento y prevalencia de síntomas de disfunciones del suelo pélvico en mujeres nulíparas que practican deportes de alto impacto: estudio preliminar

Abstract

ObjectivesTo describe the knowledge about the pelvic floor (PF), pelvic floor dysfunctions (PFD), its main risk factors, and the preventive and treatment strategies for them, as well as to determine the prevalence of PFD symptoms and the distress produced in nulliparous women who play basketball, football or handball. MethodologyDescriptive cross-sectional study, population-based. Women of legal age who practiced basketball, football or handball for at least 3hours a week for 2years were included. Pregnant women, with a history of pregnancy, with cognitive or visual alterations were excluded. To carry out the study, an ad hoc questionnaire was designed on the Google Forms platform, which was disseminated through WhatsApp. ResultsThe participants had greater knowledge about urinary incontinence (10/12 points) than about pelvic organ prolapse (6/12 points). Despite having knowledge about the location of the PF and its functions, they did not perform an anticipated contraction of this muscle before lifting weights. A prevalence of PFD symptoms of 84.6% was obtained, highlighting urinary incontinence (82.9%). The distress produced by these symptoms was mild (median: 11.97; IQR: 16.7). ConclusionsThe women in the sample have high knowledge about the PF and the PFD, however, they do not use the anticipated contraction of the PF muscles as a protection strategy against the increase in intra-abdominal pressure during sports practice. The prevalence of PFD symptoms is high, although the distress that these symptoms cause them is mild.