Effects of inner muscle resistance exercise on stress urinary incontinence: a randomized clinical controlled trial.
Lin Lyu, Chunying Hu, Miao Ye and 5 others
PMID 34658518WHAT IT FOUND
Stress urinary incontinence was reported cured in 14 of 16 women after transverse abdominal plus pelvic-floor co-contraction with Thera-band resistance and 11 of 16 after pelvic-floor exercise alone, but the paper did not report whether that difference was more than chance.
Key findings
01Stress urinary incontinence was reported as cured in 87.5% (14/16) of the transverse abdominal plus pelvic-floor co-contraction resistance group and 68.8% (11/16) of the pelvic-floor-only group after 8 weeks.
02A main before-after effect on transverse abdominal muscle thickness was reported after 8 weeks.
03During active co-contraction, transverse abdominal muscle thickness showed a significant before-after difference in the co-contraction resistance group.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
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What it does not show
The trial had only 32 participants, with 16 in each group. The paper reports cure rates of 14 of 16 and 11 of 16 but does not give a between-group test for whether that difference was more than chance. The randomisation method and allocation concealment are not described. The paper reports single-blind measurement only and does not say participants were blinded. The co-contraction group received transverse abdominal plus pelvic-floor co-contraction with Thera-band resistance, while the comparison group received pelvic-floor exercise, so the contribution of any single added component cannot be separated. The participants had mild stress urinary incontinence at least once a week, so it may not apply to more severe symptoms. The paper does not report follow-up after the 8-week intervention or adverse events.
Declared interests
No funding was provided for this study, and the authors declared no conflict of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that adding transverse abdominal co-contraction and Thera-band resistance is better than pelvic-floor exercise alone. The paper reported 14 of 16 women cured after transverse abdominal plus pelvic-floor co-contraction with Thera-band resistance and 11 of 16 after pelvic-floor exercise alone, but it did not report whether that difference was more than chance.