Pelvic floor exercises with biofeedback for stress urinary incontinence

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: Prospective study to objectively evaluate the benefits of pelvic floor strengthening exercises associated to biofeedback for the treatment of stress urinary incontinence. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Fourteen patients diagnosed with stress urinary incontinence (SUI) were selected for this study. All patients underwent a pelvic floor training associated to biofeedback for 12 consecutive weeks. Urodynamic tests, pad test and bladder diary were analyzed at the beginning of the study, at the end and after 3 months. The King's Health Questionnaire (KHQ) was applied before and after treatment to assess the impact in the quality of life. RESULTS: There was a significant reduction in the pad weight (from 14.21 g to 1 g), number of urinary leakage episodes (from 8.14 per day to 2.57 per day) and daytime frequency (from 7.93 per day to 5.85 per day). At urodynamics the authors observed a significant increase in Valsalva leak-point pressure (from 103.93 cm H2O to 139.14 cm H2O), cistometric capacity (from 249.29 mL to 336.43 mL, p = 0.0015) and bladder volume at first desire to void (from 145 mL to 215.71 mL). Those differences were kept during the first 3 months of follow up. The KHQ revealed significant differences except in the case of "general health perception", which covers health in general and not exclusively urinary incontinence. CONCLUSION: Treatment of SUI with pelvic floor exercises associated to biofeedback caused significant changes in the parameters analyzed, with maintenance of good results 3 months after treatment.