ABSTRACT
Background: Urinary Incontinence is a worldwide problem that remains a highly prevalent cross-cultural and costly condition affecting millions regardless of age and gender. Physiotherapy is among the recommended treatment options for the management of stress incontinence
Objectives: To assess the awareness among doctors regarding the role of physiotherapy in stress incontinence management
Methods: A cross-sectional study was done among gynecologists, nephrologists and urologists selected from public and private hospitals of Karachi through non-probability convenient sampling; total sample size of the study was 100. Data was entered and analyzed using SPSS version 17. Chi square test was used to find association for qualitative variables and p value <0.05 was considered as significant
Results: Awareness regarding role of physiotherapy management in stress incontinence was found among 79% doctors. Urinary tract infection [55%], Post partum [45%] and post surgical [45%] were considered by doctors as the most common causes of stress incontinence. Preferable choice of management for stress incontinence was physiotherapy by 75% doctors. Regarding referral of patients with stress incontinence for physiotherapy 47% of the doctors referred their patients depending on patient condition and about 25% of the doctors were of the opinion that their patients recovered completely
Conclusion: The study showed that there was awareness among doctors about the role of physiotherapy in management of stress incontinence and most of them referred their patients for physiotherapy