Adult urologyIncrease in pelvic floor muscle activity after 12 weeks’ training: a randomized prospective pilot study
Section snippets
Material and methods
The subjects were recruited consecutively from the gynecologic outpatient clinic during 1998 to 1999. Thirty women with urodynamically tested stress incontinence without previous incontinence operations participated in a PFMT program after a gynecologic interview and examination. Volunteers aged 21 to 70 years with genuine stress incontinence and an abdominal leak point pressure greater than 90 were included. The exclusion criteria were genital protrusion beyond the vaginal hymen, an inability
Results
The characteristics of the participants are given in Table I. Initially, each group had 15 patients, but 2 patients interrupted training with the device and continued PFMT alone. The analysis was, however, carried out on an intent-to-treat basis. All 30 patients participated in the 12-week training session. A summary of the collected data is presented in Table II.
When analyzing the supine PFM activity values, a significant change was found over time (P <0.001), and the interaction between the
Comment
The results of this study demonstrate the efficacy of PFM exercises alone and in combination with a biofeedback device in increasing muscle activity. Our results corroborate the randomized studies of Burgio et al.3 and Burns et al.,4 who found a significant increase in pelvic muscle activity after office-based biofeedback training. In the study of Hirsch et al.,10 home-based biofeedback was efficient in 85% of patients with stress and mixed incontinence.
The leakage test contains 13 types of
Conclusions
These results show a significant improvement in PFMT outcome measures (PFM activity, leakage index) in the biofeedback group compared with the PFMT-alone group. PFM activity clearly increases after 12 weeks’ training and can be objectively monitored with an EMG-based biofeedback device.
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Cited by (47)
Pelvic floor muscle function differs between supine and standing positions in women with stress urinary incontinence: an experimental crossover study
2022, Journal of PhysiotherapyCitation Excerpt :Aukee et al (2003) showed less muscular activation in incontinent women compared with asymptomatic ones mainly in the standing position; however, those authors used the prototype of a biofeedback device that was not previously tested as a valid instrument.14 Aukee et al (2002) reported increased PFM strength in women with SUI in both supine and standing positions after 12 weeks of PFM training with and without biofeedback,15 but the influence of the standing position on PFM function was not discussed. One study evaluated the PFM with digital muscle testing, manometry and transabdominal ultrasound in standing and supine positions.
Pelvic floor muscle function in the standing position in women with pelvic floor dysfunction
2022, International Urogynecology Journal