Assessment of Efficacy of Pelvic Floor Muscle Exercise (PFME) on Urinary Incontinence among Middle Aged Women

Background: Urinary incontinence (UI) is a familiar manifestation that can affect women of all ages, with a wide range of severity and nature. While rarely life-threatening, incontinence may seriously influence the physical, psychological and social wellbeing of affected individuals.

Objective: The main objective of the study is to assess the effectiveness of pelvic floor muscle exercises (PFME) or Kegel’s exercise on urinary incontinence among middle aged women of selected urban community of Raipur (C.G).

Methodology: A community based quazi - experimental study was conducted among 60 middle aged women having mild to moderate degree of urinary incontinence. The sample were selected by nonrandomised purposive technique The baseline data were collected from 60 samples (30 in experimental group and 30 in control group) by standardised tool - Questionnaire for urinary incontinence diagnosis (QUID) on urinary incontinence. The experimental group was taught to practise Kegel’s exercise for 4 week followed by post- test of both control & experimental group to compare the data for effectiveness.

Results: Comparison of mean and SD of pre-test and post-test level of urinary incontinence among middle aged women in experimental group & control group (un paired t -test) showed that the calculated value (2.1) of t was higher than the table value (2) at 0.05 level which shows that PFME is effective in improving symptoms of urinary incontinence if practised on regular basis. Factors positively associated with urinary incontinence were parity, type of delivery and nature of work.

Conclusion: Middle aged women with urinary incontinence will be greatly benefitted with regular pelvic floor muscle exercise. Health care practitioner should train & educate them on correct ways of performing Kegel’s exercise at community level.