Effectiveness of Exercise Therapy for Postpartum Urinary Incontinence—Systematic Review

Background/Objectives: Urinary incontinence (UI) is a prevalent health condition with a negative impact on quality of life (QoL). Exercise therapy (ET), specifically, pelvic floor muscle training (PFMT), is recommended as a first-line conservative treatment for UI during pregnancy, childbirth, and t...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Cuesta Paredes, Maitane, Labata-Lezaun, Noé, Orts Ruiz, Cristina, López-de-Celis, Carlos, Estebanez de Miguel, Elena
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2026
País:España
Institución:Varias* (Consorci de Biblioteques Universitáries de Catalunya, Centre de Serveis Científics i Acadèmics de Catalunya)
Repositorio:Recercat. Dipósit de la Recerca de Catalunya
OAI Identifier:oai:recercat.cat:20.500.12328/5264
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12328/5264
https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm15020810
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Exercise therapy
Urinary incontinence
Postpartum period
Terapia de ejercicio
Incontinencia urinaria
Período posparto
Teràpia d'exercici
Incontinència urinària
Període postpart
616.7
id ES_3798483bf8cb651ca5e6433cc59554ae
oai_identifier_str oai:recercat.cat:20.500.12328/5264
network_acronym_str ES
network_name_str España
repository_id_str
spelling Effectiveness of Exercise Therapy for Postpartum Urinary Incontinence—Systematic ReviewCuesta Paredes, MaitaneLabata-Lezaun, NoéOrts Ruiz, CristinaLópez-de-Celis, CarlosEstebanez de Miguel, ElenaExercise therapyUrinary incontinencePostpartum periodTerapia de ejercicioIncontinencia urinariaPeríodo pospartoTeràpia d'exerciciIncontinència urinàriaPeríode postpart616.7Background/Objectives: Urinary incontinence (UI) is a prevalent health condition with a negative impact on quality of life (QoL). Exercise therapy (ET), specifically, pelvic floor muscle training (PFMT), is recommended as a first-line conservative treatment for UI during pregnancy, childbirth, and the postpartum period. This study evaluated the effects of ET on the management of postpartum UI. Methods: A systematic search was conducted to identify clinical trials and randomized controlled trials including women over 18 years with postpartum UI. All included studies used ET as the main intervention. Studies were excluded if UI symptoms were attributable to factors outside the urinary tract or if participants had concomitant pathologies. Results: From 298 records screened, four trials were included. Three trials reported statistically significant improvements in UI outcomes, while findings for pelvic floor function and QoL showed greater heterogeneity. One trial found that supervised PFMT was associated with greater improvements in urinary symptoms (BFLUTS), vaginal pressure (18.96 mmHg (SD: 9.08)), and endurance (11.32 s (SD: 3.17)) compared to unsupervised training. Another trial using electromyographic biofeedback with electrical stimulation reported a continence rate exceeding 70% on the 20 min pad test, with improvements in perceived burden (VAS), symptoms (UDI), and QoL (IIQ). A third trial combining PFMT with infrared physiotherapy showed improvements in pelvic floor function (PFIQ-7, PFDI-20), urodynamic parameters, urine loss, and QoL (GQOLI-74). In the remaining trial, within-group improvements were observed, with no statistically significant between-group differences. Conclusions: ET appears to be beneficial for postpartum UI, with a moderate certainty of evidence. While the greatest benefits are observed with supervised PFMT, the diversity of comparators, and the risk of performance bias limit definitive conclusions regarding its superiority. Given the short-term follow-up, it remains unclear whether the results are influenced by the spontaneous recovery trajectory in the postpartum period and if these effects are sustained in the long term.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersionMDPI2026info:eu-repo/semantics/article15http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12328/5264https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm15020810reponame:Recercat. Dipósit de la Recerca de Catalunyainstname:Varias* (Consorci de Biblioteques Universitáries de Catalunya, Centre de Serveis Científics i Acadèmics de Catalunya)InglésJournal of Clinical Medicine15;2Copyright: © 2026 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license.https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessoai:recercat.cat:20.500.12328/52642026-05-29T05:05:01Z
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Effectiveness of Exercise Therapy for Postpartum Urinary Incontinence—Systematic Review
title Effectiveness of Exercise Therapy for Postpartum Urinary Incontinence—Systematic Review
spellingShingle Effectiveness of Exercise Therapy for Postpartum Urinary Incontinence—Systematic Review
Cuesta Paredes, Maitane
Exercise therapy
Urinary incontinence
Postpartum period
Terapia de ejercicio
Incontinencia urinaria
Período posparto
Teràpia d'exercici
Incontinència urinària
Període postpart
616.7
title_short Effectiveness of Exercise Therapy for Postpartum Urinary Incontinence—Systematic Review
title_full Effectiveness of Exercise Therapy for Postpartum Urinary Incontinence—Systematic Review
title_fullStr Effectiveness of Exercise Therapy for Postpartum Urinary Incontinence—Systematic Review
title_full_unstemmed Effectiveness of Exercise Therapy for Postpartum Urinary Incontinence—Systematic Review
title_sort Effectiveness of Exercise Therapy for Postpartum Urinary Incontinence—Systematic Review
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Cuesta Paredes, Maitane
Labata-Lezaun, Noé
Orts Ruiz, Cristina
López-de-Celis, Carlos
Estebanez de Miguel, Elena
author Cuesta Paredes, Maitane
author_facet Cuesta Paredes, Maitane
Labata-Lezaun, Noé
Orts Ruiz, Cristina
López-de-Celis, Carlos
Estebanez de Miguel, Elena
author_role author
author2 Labata-Lezaun, Noé
Orts Ruiz, Cristina
López-de-Celis, Carlos
Estebanez de Miguel, Elena
author2_role author
author
author
author
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv Exercise therapy
Urinary incontinence
Postpartum period
Terapia de ejercicio
Incontinencia urinaria
Período posparto
Teràpia d'exercici
Incontinència urinària
Període postpart
616.7
topic Exercise therapy
Urinary incontinence
Postpartum period
Terapia de ejercicio
Incontinencia urinaria
Período posparto
Teràpia d'exercici
Incontinència urinària
Període postpart
616.7
description Background/Objectives: Urinary incontinence (UI) is a prevalent health condition with a negative impact on quality of life (QoL). Exercise therapy (ET), specifically, pelvic floor muscle training (PFMT), is recommended as a first-line conservative treatment for UI during pregnancy, childbirth, and the postpartum period. This study evaluated the effects of ET on the management of postpartum UI. Methods: A systematic search was conducted to identify clinical trials and randomized controlled trials including women over 18 years with postpartum UI. All included studies used ET as the main intervention. Studies were excluded if UI symptoms were attributable to factors outside the urinary tract or if participants had concomitant pathologies. Results: From 298 records screened, four trials were included. Three trials reported statistically significant improvements in UI outcomes, while findings for pelvic floor function and QoL showed greater heterogeneity. One trial found that supervised PFMT was associated with greater improvements in urinary symptoms (BFLUTS), vaginal pressure (18.96 mmHg (SD: 9.08)), and endurance (11.32 s (SD: 3.17)) compared to unsupervised training. Another trial using electromyographic biofeedback with electrical stimulation reported a continence rate exceeding 70% on the 20 min pad test, with improvements in perceived burden (VAS), symptoms (UDI), and QoL (IIQ). A third trial combining PFMT with infrared physiotherapy showed improvements in pelvic floor function (PFIQ-7, PFDI-20), urodynamic parameters, urine loss, and QoL (GQOLI-74). In the remaining trial, within-group improvements were observed, with no statistically significant between-group differences. Conclusions: ET appears to be beneficial for postpartum UI, with a moderate certainty of evidence. While the greatest benefits are observed with supervised PFMT, the diversity of comparators, and the risk of performance bias limit definitive conclusions regarding its superiority. Given the short-term follow-up, it remains unclear whether the results are influenced by the spontaneous recovery trajectory in the postpartum period and if these effects are sustained in the long term.
publishDate 2026
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2026
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
format article
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12328/5264
https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm15020810
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12328/5264
https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm15020810
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv Inglés
language_invalid_str_mv Inglés
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv Journal of Clinical Medicine
15;2
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
rights_invalid_str_mv https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv 15
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv MDPI
publisher.none.fl_str_mv MDPI
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv reponame:Recercat. Dipósit de la Recerca de Catalunya
instname:Varias* (Consorci de Biblioteques Universitáries de Catalunya, Centre de Serveis Científics i Acadèmics de Catalunya)
instname_str Varias* (Consorci de Biblioteques Universitáries de Catalunya, Centre de Serveis Científics i Acadèmics de Catalunya)
reponame_str Recercat. Dipósit de la Recerca de Catalunya
collection Recercat. Dipósit de la Recerca de Catalunya
repository.name.fl_str_mv
repository.mail.fl_str_mv
_version_ 1869406046963892224
score 15,812455

Similares en LA Referencia