Effects of Stabilization Exercises Focusing on Pelvic Floor Muscles on Low Back Pain and Urinary Incontinence in Women

• Published in: Urology (Ridgewood, N.J.) N.J.), 2016-07, Vol.93, p.50-54
• Main Authors: Ghaderi, Fariba, Mohammadi, Khadijeh, Amir Sasan, Ramin, Niko Kheslat, Saeed, Oskouei, Ali E
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Exercise Therapy - methods; Female; Humans; Low Back Pain - therapy; Middle Aged; Pelvic Floor; Treatment Outcome; Urinary Incontinence, Stress - therapy; Urology
• ISSN: 0090-4295; 1527-9995
• DOI: 10.1016/j.urology.2016.03.034

Objective To investigate the effects of stabilization exercises focusing on pelvic floor muscles on both low back pain (LBP) and urinary incontinence (UI) in women suffering from chronic nonspecific LBP. Methods In a randomized clinical trial, 60 women, ranging from 45 to 60 years old, with chronic nonspecific LBP and stress UI were recruited. They were randomly assigned to the control group (n = 30) that received routine physiotherapy modalities and regular exercises, or the training group (n = 30) that received routine physiotherapy modalities and stabilization exercises focusing on pelvic floor muscle (12 weeks). Clinical characteristics of the study subjects including UI intensity and quality of life assessed by International Consultation on Incontinence Questionnaire-Urinary Incontinence Short Form questionnaire, functional disability assessed by Oswestry disability index scores, pain intensity, pelvic floor muscle strength and endurance, and transverses abdominis muscle strength were measured before and after treatment. Results Functional disability and pain intensity were significantly decreased in control ( P