HYPOPRESSIVE AND KEGEL EXERCISES IN WOMEN WITH ABDOMINAL AND PELVIC FLOOR DISFUNCTION
HYPOPRESSIVE AND KEGEL EXERCISES IN WOMEN WITH ABDOMINAL AND PELVIC FLOOR DISFUNCTION

Summary/Abstract: Purpose: Under the influence of various factors (pregnancy, normal birth, heavy physical activity, advancing age, etc.) in many women the abdominal and pelvic muscles significantly weaken, as a result of which their functionality is reduced. One of the leading problems is urinary incontinence. Hypopressive exercises are postural techniques that aim to reduce the pressure in the abdominal cavity. Their original purpose was for postpartum recovery, but later they began to be widely used in many other areas of rehabilitation and sports. Their use in gynecological practice is based on the fact that in voluntary contraction of the superficial and deep abdominal muscles, during expiratory apnea, pelvic muscle fibers are activated reflexively. Kegel exercises are a purposeful, active contraction of the pelvic floor muscles in order to strengthen them. Aim: The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of the use of hypopressive and Kegel exercises in women who have given birth at a mean age of 50 ± 3.7. Methodology: The exercise program last over a period of 6 weeks. They all have or have had episodes of urinary incontinence. Hypopressive exercises were applied 4 times a week for 45 minutes, and Kegel exercises twice a day. Various functional indicators were measured, such as abdominal circumference, arm-floor distance, and a specific test for women with urinary incontinence - IIQ-7 - short form. Results: Results are reported before and after the application of the specialized kinesitherapy program. The obtained data were processed with the statistical package Prizm 3.0. Elements of the descriptive statistics were used - obtaining and comparing averages and reporting standard deviation. Wilcoxon test was applied to compare dependent quantitative samples. The obtained results of the group of women (n = 15) show a positive effect of the applied kinesitherapy program and are statistically significant (p <0.05). At the beginning of the study, the mean value of abdominal circumference (cm) was 94.00±2.35, and after the 6-week program this value decreased to 90.67±2.36 (p <0.001). The toe-floor distance (??) also decreased from 12.93±0.93 at the beginning to 9.13±0.91 at the end (p <0.001). The overall result of the functional test at the beginning was 72.69±3.37, while at the end of the study it reached values of 37.14±2.8 (p <0.002). Conclusions: Discussion of the results proves to be a complex task given the fact that there is not still a sufficient number of conducted and reliable scientific studies on the effect of the use of hypopressive exercises in women with incontinence. However, we can say based on this study that their effect is undoubtedly positive in all reported functional aspects. Recommendations: This pilot study could serve as a basis for future large-scale research on the effect of hypopressive exercise in women with pelvic dysfunction.

• Details
• Contents