The Effect of Pelvic Floor Training on Female Urinary Incontinence during Postpartum

Objective To evaluate the effect of postpartum pelvic floor muscle exercise on the prevention and treatment of urinary incontinence.Methods One hundred thirty-eight healthy postpartum women were randomly allocated to a training(n=68) or a control group(n=70).The training group attended a 6-week intensive pelvic floor muscle exercise course.The control group received the customary information.Pelvic floor muscle strength was measured pretreatment at the 6th and post-treatment at the 12th week after delivery,using pelvic floor muscle strength oxford scale.Urinary leakage was registered by interviewing incontinence quality-of-life and a standardized pad test.Results At baseline(6 weeks postpartum) there was no significant difference in the number of women with urinary incontinence in the training group compared to the control group.At 12 weeks postpartum,after the 6-week treatment period,there was difference(P0.05) in favor of the training group.In addition,a significantly greater improvement in pelvic floor muscle strength was found in the training group rather than in the control group.Conclusion A specially designed postpartum pelvic floor muscle exercise course is effective in increasing pelvic floor muscle strength and reducing urinary incontinence in the immediate postpartum period.