Effects of a pelvic floor muscle training in nulliparous athletes with urinary incontinence: biomechanical models protocol

Abstract

Urinary Incontinence (UI) is a prevalent condition among active women, especially in young nulliparous athletes. However, up to now, only a few studies conducted pelvic floor muscles training (PFMT) in athletes with UI. So, the present study evaluated the effect of a comprehensive PFMT protocol on UI symptoms in young nulliparous athletes using biomechanical models. This was a experimental and longitudinal pre and post-test evaluations study with 9 young nulliparous athletes divided in 2 intervention groups: one group had supervision of a physiotherapist and another does not. The participants answered the questionnaires: CONTILIFE to investigate the quality of life, the Self-efficacy Scale of Broome to evaluate the capacity of pelvic floor muscles (PFM) contraction, the IPAQ-SF to quantify the physical activity level and socio-demographic characteristics, to characterize the sample. Additionally, they were clinically assessed by Pad-test to quantify urine loss and by the Oxford Grading Scale and Perineometry to evaluate the strength of PFM contraction. It was used the T-test for two independent samples and the Manny-Whitney test to compare the groups, as well as the Spearman Correlation to correlational analysis. The level of significance was p ≤ 0.05. Seven athletes concluded the 8 weeks-protocol. The protocol shown to be effective in reduce the loss of urine. Further research is necessary to determine the specific PFMT protocol in women that perform exercise.