Pelvic Floor Muscle Training for Treatment of Urinary Incontinence in Women

Details for This Review

Study Population: Adult women with stress urinary incontinence (UI), urge UI, or mixed UI

Efficacy End Points: Patient-perceived cure or improvement, symptoms, quality of life, frequency of leakage episodes, amount of urine lost

Harm End Points: Discomfort, soreness, pain, bleeding

Narrative: UI is common in adult women, leading to health complications such as rash and urinary tract infections. UI can also lead to a decrease in social and physical activities as well as impaired emotional and psychological well-being. There are two main causes of UI. The first cause is neuromuscular, involving pelvic floor weakness, which results in suboptimal positioning of the urethra and inability to close the bladder outlet (stress UI). The second cause is overactivity of the detrusor muscle, which leads to increased pressure and inability to close the bladder outlet accompanied by the immediate urge to void (urge UI). Pelvic floor muscle training (PFMT) seeks to reverse this weakness and facilitate timely contraction of these muscles. There are multiple types of PFMT programs, with or without a biofeedback component. PFMT is considered first-line therapy for all types of urinary incontinence due to the significant adverse effects of the anticholinergic medications that are commonly prescribed