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

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 < .05) and training groups (P < .05), with no significant difference between the groups after treatment. However, UI intensity was smaller for the training group (P < .05). Pelvic floor muscle strength and endurance, and transverses abdominis muscle strength were statistically increased in the training group compared with those in the control group (P < .05). CONCLUSION Stabilization exercises focusing on pelvic floor muscle improves stress UI as well as LBP in women with chronic nonspecific LBP. (C) 2016 Elsevier Inc.