Pelvic-Floor Exercise Training and Prenatal Exercise Programs

Postpartum women often find themselves coping with the discomforts of incontinence. To determine whether targeted training could help, Polish researchers at Gdansk University evaluated the effects of adding pelvic-floor muscle education and training to a prenatal high-/low-impact exercise program.

Investigators compared reports from 133 pregnant women who attended this training program from the second trimester of pregnancy through birth, three times a week, with feedback from 127 women in a control group who received no training. All subjects provided details about the impact of incontinence on their lives 2 months after birth and 1 year postpartum.

Data analysis showed that participants who followed the high-low program and received pelvic-floor education reported significantly less impact on their lives from incontinence than the control group. Between the two assessments, training group women experienced a 38% decrease in symptoms compared with a 20% decrease among women in the control group.

The conclusion: Adding pelvic-floor education and training may help women continue high-intensity exercise and reduce postnatal urinary incontinence. The study appeared in Medicine (2020; 99 [6], e18874).

See also: Training the Pelvic Core