Assessment of the pelvic floor exercises with iPelvis® app. for treatment of women with urinary incontinence: a randomized controlled trial

Abstract

Objective: To analyze the effectiveness of an application iPelvis® “app” for pelvic floor exercises, alone and associated with physiotherapy, in reducing urinary symptoms and improving the quality of life of incontinent women. Materials and Methods: This is a longitudinal randomized controlled clinical trial study. The Kings Health Questionnaire (KHQ) and the International Consultation on Incontinence Questionnaire-Short Form (ICIQ-SF) were used as outcome measurements. The participants were divided into four groups: application + physiotherapy (AP + PHYSIO); home exercise sheet + physiotherapy (P + PHYSIO); only application (AP); only home exercise sheet (P). Results: From the 138 women who were evaluated, 77 (who presented a mean age of 48.31 years) completed the proposed treatments. In the KHQ domains and overall scores, the only ones who presented significant difference between groups were: the General Health Perception (P + PHYSIO higher than P, p=0.008), Social Limitations (P + PHYSIO higher than AP, p=0.04; P higher than AP, p=0.05) and Part I Score (P + PHYSIO higher than P, p=0.04). The analysis of the ICIQ-SF showed P + PHYSIO higher than P (p=0.01). Between the other groups there were no significant differences. The other nine variables analysed no significant differences in all groups. Conclusion: The use of the application alone and associated with physiotherapy, produces better resulted in reducing urinary symptoms and improving the quality of life of incontinent women, in most variables, but it is not significantly superior in related to the other groups.