Articles

Year 2019, Volume 48, Issue 2

Effectiveness of different Physiotherapy techniques in women with urinary incontinence due to pregnancy. A narrative review

Lendínez-Extremera, AB.

Abstract

Introduction: urinary incontinence is an involuntary loss of urine that causes a hygienic and/or social problem, and it can be demonstrated objectively. It mainly affects women and it is related to the pelvic floor muscles dysfunction, which can be weakened in pregnancy and postpartum. Objective: assessing the main evidence on the effectiveness of physiotherapy in patients with urinary incontinence in pregnancy and after delivery. Material and method: A literature search in Scopus, Medline and PEDro databases with the keywords: "Urinary Incontinence", "Pregnancy" and "Physical Therapy Modalities" was performed. Results: 7 articles were selected according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria. All the studies were classified into two groups according to the onset of the pathology: women with urinary incontinence during pregnancy and women with urinary incontinence after delivery. Conclusions: there isn’t enough evidence on the effectiveness of pelvic floor muscle training (PFMT) in decreasing urinary incontinence which appears in pregnancy. There is a solid evidence about the effectiveness of PFMT, with supervision, with or without trunk stabilization exercises in the management of urinary incontinence after delivery. On the other hand, there is limited evidence about the effectiveness of electrical stimulation and vaginal cones in this group of patients

Keywords: urinary incontinence, pregnancy, physical therapy modalities.