Impact of a Pelvic Floor Training Program Among Women with Multiple Sclerosis A Controlled Clinical Trial

Objective The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of two programs for strengthening the pelvic floor on the urinary incontinence of patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). Design This is a prospective study of the clinical trial type, monitored for 6 mos, in which 24 women in the moderate stage of MS participated in a program of exercises for strengthening the pelvic floorassociated (experimental group) or not (control group) with electrotherapy. The variables analyzed were as follows: quality-of-life, overactivity of the bladder, perineal contraction, and level of anxiety and depression. The statistical procedures involved multivariate analyses of repeated measurements, with a significance of 5%. Results Initial homogeneity being observed in the anthropometric and clinical variables, both protocols resulted in improvements in quality-of-life (P = 0.001), overactive bladder (P = 0.001), perineal contraction (P = 0.004), and level of anxiety (P = 0.001) and depression (P = 0.001), in relation to the initial comparison. The association of electrotherapy with strengthening exercises increased the improvement of the patients regarding overactive bladder (P = 0.039) and perineal contraction (P = 0.001), in comparison with the control group. Conclusions The results reinforce the benefit of exercises for strengthening the musculature of the pelvic floor in women with overactive bladder in MS and demonstrate a potential of the action when associated with electrotherapy.