Pelvic Floor Abnormalities clinical trials

Pelvic Floor Exercises During Gestation in the Prevention of Urinary Incontinence and Pelvic Floor Muscle Dysfunction

Urinary incontinence is any involuntary loss of urine. During gestation, hormonal and mechanical factors favor the incidence of urinary loss that may persist after delivery in up to 50% of women. Gestational urine loss can be prevented or treated during pregnancy with physical therapy. Pregnancy and delivery have been widely deemed important risk factors that should be assessed while developing preventive and curative treatments for both female urinary incontinence and pelvic floor muscle dysfunction. Pelvic floor muscle exercises, led by skilled physical therapists, can prevent, reduce, or even cure involuntary urine loss as well as pelvic floor muscle dysfunction. Within this framework, developing a low-cost, easy-to-perform method for the treatment of urinary incontinence and pelvic floor muscle dysfunction, with a preventive or curative approach, is considered necessary. The overall objective of this study is to assess the effects of pelvic floor exercises during pregnancy on pelvic floor muscles and urinary continence. Secondary aims include determining whether exercises change pelvic floor muscle function; if changing pelvic floor muscle function reduces the occurrence of urinary incontinence; developing and applying a manual guide; and determining whether the physical therapy guide is well accepted, easily understandable and reproducible.