The Effectiveness of Pelvic Floor Muscle Training on Decreasing Urinary Incontinence in Pregnant or Postnatal Women: A Systematic Review

Abstract

This study aims to analyze the effectiveness of pelvic floor muscle training in preventing urinary incontinence in pregnant and postpartum women. The study employed a systematic review method by searching data from journal databases such as Pubmed, Science Direct, and Web of Science. The inclusion criteria in this study were articles published in the last five years (2019-2024) that discussed pregnant and postnatal women, pelvic floor muscle training, and urinary incontinence. Those articles must come from journals that used the official languages ​​of the United Nations, such as Arabic, Chinese, English, Russian, French, and Spanish. Meanwhile, the exclusion criteria in this study were those not indexed by Scopus and Web of Science. This study then identified 2387 articles from the Pubmed, Science Direct, and Web of Science databases. Among them, eight articles met the inclusion criteria and were selected and analyzed for this systematic observation. For standard operations, the study followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) assessment. The results indicated that pelvic floor muscle training or Kegel exercise can help weak pelvic muscles due to uterine growth and hormonal changes during pregnancy become stronger. This is so, especially if it is carried out regularly during pregnancy to reduce postnatal urinary incontinence. This training or exercise is recommended for six weeks during pregnancy to increase the strength of the muscle tone of the blood vessel walls and pelvic floor muscles. Additionally, it can support ligament muscles in the pelvis so that it can prevent urinary incontinence. We highly recommend further research to analyze PMFT during the postpartum period which can prevent urinary incontinence even more. Keywords: Pelvic Floor Muscle Training; Kegel Exercise; Pregnant; Postnatal; Urinary Incontinence