Impact of clinical pilates on satisfaction with life of women with urinary incontinence

The high prevalence of urinary incontinence is a problem of public health due to its physical, psychological, social and economic effects. It affects predominantly all age female gender and may influence satisfaction with life. Clinical Pilates has been studied in healthy subjects and seems to have positive effects on the psychological and general well-being. However, this method lacks evidence upon its effect on women with urinary incontinence. This study aims to assess the impact of a Clinical Pilates exercise-based program on the perception of contraction of pelvic floor muscles and in satisfaction with life of women with urinary incontinence. A quasi-experimental investigation has been carried out with a 60 women sample distributed by an Experimental Group (EG; n=30) and a Control Group (CG; n=30). Participants were aged ≥ 50 years, diagnosed with stress and mixed urinary incontinence, grade ≥ 3 in the Modified Oxford Grading Scale. EG performed 60 minutes classes of Clinical Pilates based exercises twice a week for ten weeks. CG had no intervention. Pelvic floor efficacy was assessed through Broome’s Self-Efficacy Scale and satisfaction with life through Satisfaction with Life Scale. Descriptive statistics and the Inferential Statistics were used. The T-Student test, the Wilcoxon and the Mann-Whitney tests were used in case of abnormality with α = 0.05). The results showed that the Clinical Pilates exercise-based program had positive effects on the contraction of pelvic floor muscles, total score [79(10.48) vs 35.9(11.44); p < 0.001] in both Broome’s sub-scales, A [80.71(9.29) vs 35.36(18.57); p < 0.001] and B [77.6(11.06) vs 35.36(18.57); p = 0.02] and in satisfaction with life [24.00(8.00) vs 16.00 (8.00); p < 0.001]. In conclusion, Clinical Pilates has positively influenced participants’ perception of pelvic floor muscles contraction and satisfaction with life.