INTRODUCTION: Literature on physical therapy for the pelvic floor muscles to treat urinary incontinence following radical prostatectomy is scarce, with descriptions of differing techniques for physical therapy treatment. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effect of physical therapy treatment for recovering urinary continence among patients who had undergone radical prostatectomy, by using functional training of the pelvic floor muscles with or without electrical stimulation. METHOD: Twenty patients with urinary incontinence following radical prostatectomy were selected. The patients were randomly allocated to a control or to an experimental group. The experimental group was composed of ten patients who received physical therapy treatment consisting of functional training of the pelvic floor muscles and electrical stimulation. The control group was composed of ten patients who received physical therapy treatment consisting only of functional training of the pelvic floor. All of the patients were reevaluated three, six and twelve months after beginning treatment, by using the pad test, visual analog scale (VAS) for incontinence, VAS for the problem and counting the number of diapers (nappies) used. RESULTS: There was a statistically significant decrease between the initial and 12th month evaluations of the pad test, VAS for incontinence, VAS for the problem and numbers of diapers of the control group and experimental group. However, no statistically significant difference was found when the same variable was compared between the two groups. CONCLUSION: There was no additional improvement from treatment with functional training of the pelvic floor muscles associated with electrical stimulation, in relation to treatment only using functional pelvic floor training. However, there was a significant improvement in urinary incontinence in both groups.

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