Use the Back button in your browser to see the other results of your search or to select another record.

Detailed Search Results

Pelvic floor exercises in postnatal care
Sleep J, Grant A
Midwifery 1987 Dec;3(4):158-164
clinical trial
6/10 [Eligibility criteria: Yes; Random allocation: Yes; Concealed allocation: No; Baseline comparability: Yes; Blind subjects: No; Blind therapists: No; Blind assessors: No; Adequate follow-up: Yes; Intention-to-treat analysis: Yes; Between-group comparisons: Yes; Point estimates and variability: Yes. Note: Eligibility criteria item does not contribute to total score] *This score has been confirmed*

1,800 women recruited within 24 hours of vaginal delivery, were randomly allocated to one of two pelvic floor exercise policies aimed at preventing urinary incontinence. Nine hundred women received instruction currently available to all postnatal women in the West Berkshire Health District and 900 were encouraged to follow a more intensive regime endorsed by the use of a 4-week exercise diary. When assessed 10 days and 3 months after delivery, women allocated to the intensive policy were more likely to be persevering with their exercises. There were no differences between the two groups in terms of the prevalence or severity of urinary or faecal incontinence, but women in the intensive exercise group were less likely to report perineal pain and feelings of depression 3 months after delivery. These findings raise questions about the content of current postnatal exercise programmes. The components of these should now be formally evaluated in further randomized trials.

Full text (sometimes free) may be available at these link(s):      help