Effects of pelvic floor exercises on the quality of life in incontinent women

Abstract

Background: Urinary incontinence (UI) in women increases with increasing age and negatively affects quality of life. Pelvic floor exercise is one of a method for UI prevention and intervention as well as improve quality of life. However, study of effects of pelvic floor exercises on the quality of life in community-based incontinent women is limited. Objective: To examine the effects of pelvic floor exercise (PFx) on the quality of life in incontinent women living in a community. Materials and methods: Researchers and village health workers surveyed urinary incontinence conditions of women aged 30-60 years old. Subjects were divided into 2 groups; a pelvic floor exercise group and a control group without exercise. Fifty subjects (mean age 52.31±7.0 years) were recruited from Tonpao community, Sankhampheang, Chiang Mai. They were voluntarily assigned into each group of 25 members. Both groups were comparable in terms of stress urinary incontinence (SUI), urgency urinary incontinence (UUI), and mixed urinary incontinence (MUI). Pre- and post-tests using the King’s Health Questionnaire-Thai version (KHQ-Thai) and an assessment of urinary incontinence at squat, cough, sneeze, laugh, jump, lift a large object from floor, and hearing running water were administered in both groups. PFx consisted of slow and fast contraction of pelvic floor muscles 30 times a day, 4 days per week for 8 weeks. Frequency of PFx and UI were administered by subject-reported diary. Results: The results showed that PFx group had higher scores on every domain of KHQ-Thai ( p <0.05) compared to pre-PFx; i.e., general health perception, impact of incontinence, role limitation, physical limitations, social limitation, personal relation, emotion, sleep, and severity perception of urinary incontinence. In addition, scores of the severity of UI and quality of life of PFx group was significantly better than control ( p <0.05) except impact of incontinence, social limitation, personal relation and emotion. There were number of subjects in PFx group showing less UI symptoms except in squat and lifting position but there was no significant difference between groups. Conclusion: Women who performed pelvic floor exercise for 8 weeks had fewer occurrences of UI and a better quality of life than those who did not exercise. Therefore, women with UI should be encouraged to do pelvic floor exercises regularly to prevent or reduce incontinence and enhance their quality of life.