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Controlled Clinical Trial
. 2020 Feb;99(6):e18874.
doi: 10.1097/MD.0000000000018874.

Prenatal high-low impact exercise program supported by pelvic floor muscle education and training decreases the life impact of postnatal urinary incontinence: A quasiexperimental trial

Anna Szumilewicz  1 , Agnieszka Kuchta  2 , Monika Kranich  1 , Marcin Dornowski  3 , Zbigniew Jastrzębski  4
Affiliations
Controlled Clinical Trial

Prenatal high-low impact exercise program supported by pelvic floor muscle education and training decreases the life impact of postnatal urinary incontinence: A quasiexperimental trial

Anna Szumilewicz et al. Medicine (Baltimore). 2020 Feb.

Abstract

Background: Pregnancy and high impact exercise may cause postnatal urinary incontinence. We aimed to evaluate the life impact of postnatal urinary incontinence in women attending prenatal, high-low impact exercise program, supported by pelvic floor muscle education and training, in comparison to controls.

Methods: It was a quasiexperimental trial among 260 postpartum Caucasian women (age 29 ± 4 years; mean ± standard deviation). The training group (n = 133) attended a high-low impact exercise and educational program from the 2nd trimester of pregnancy until birth, 3 times a week. We educated this group to contract and relax pelvic floor muscles with surface electromyography biofeedback and instructed how to exercise postpartum. Control women (n = 127) did not get any intervention. All women reported on the life impact of urinary incontinence 2 months and 1 year postpartum using the Incontinence Impact Questionnaire (IIQ).

Results: Training group started regular pelvic floor muscle exercises substantially earlier postpartum than controls (P < .001). Significantly less training women reported the life impact of urinary incontinence both 2 months (P = .03) and 1 year postpartum (P = .005). Two months after birth, for the symptomatic women the IIQ scores were significantly lower in the training than in the control women (median [Me] = 9.4 vs Me = 18.9; P = .002). Between the 1st and 2nd assessments the number of women affected by incontinence symptoms decreased by 38% in the training group and by 20% in the controls.

Conclusion: High-low impact activities supported by pelvic floor muscle exercises and education should be promoted among pregnant, physically active women. Such activities may help women to continue high-intensity exercise with the simultaneous prevention of postnatal urinary incontinence.Thy study was registered at ISRCTN under the title "Pelvic floor muscle training with surface electromyography" (DOI 10.1186/ISRCTN92265528).

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have no funding and conflicts of interest to disclose.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The flow of participants through the study.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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