Home-based noninvasive pelvic floor muscle training device to assist women in performing Kegel exercise in the management of stress urinary incontinence

Technologies for Evaluation of Pelvic Floor Functionality: A Systematic Review

Pelvic floor dysfunction is a common problem in women and has a negative impact on their quality of life. The aim of this review was to provide a general overview of the current state of technology used to assess pelvic floor functionality. It also provides literature research of the physiological and anatomical factors that correlate with pelvic floor health. This systematic review was conducted according to the PRISMA guidelines. The PubMed, ScienceDirect, Cochrane Library, and IEEE databases were searched for publications on sensor technology for the assessment of pelvic floor functionality. Anatomical and physiological parameters were identified through a manual search. In the systematic review, 114 publications were included. Twelve different sensor technologies were identified. Information on the obtained parameters, sensor position, test activities, and subject characteristics was prepared in tabular form from each publication. A total of 16 anatomical and physiological parameters influencing pelvic floor health were identified in 17 published studies and ranked for their statistical significance. Taken together, this review could serve as a basis for the development of novel sensors which could allow for quantifiable prevention and diagnosis, as well as particularized documentation of rehabilitation processes related to pelvic floor dysfunctions.

Clinical practice guideline for acupuncture and moxibustion: Female urinary incontinence

Urinary incontinence (UI) is a common problem worldwide. It has a major impact on physical and social activities and interpersonal relationships. UI is common in women, but is under-reported and under-treated. It affects the quality of life of female patients severely. Acupuncture and moxibustion have been proposed as potentially effective interventions for female UI. Hence, for the benefit of acupuncture practitioners around the world, the World Federation of Acupuncture-moxibustion Societies initiated a project to develop a clinical practice guideline (CPG) for the use of acupuncture and moxibustion to treat female UI. This CPG was developed according to the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) methodology, referring to the principles of the World Health Organization Handbook for Guideline Development. During the development of the CPG, the guideline development group (GDG) played an important role. The clinical questions, recommendations and therapeutic protocols were all formulated by GDG using the modified Delphi method. This CPG contains ten recommendations about the use of acupuncture and moxibustion interventions for ten clinical questions, which include nine conditional recommendations for the intervention and one conditional recommendation for either the intervention or the comparison. This CPG also provides one protocol for conventional filiform needle therapy, two therapy protocols for deep needling stimulation on lumbosacral acupoints, and four moxibustion therapy protocols, based on the protocols presented in randomized controlled trials reviewed by the GDG. Please cite this article as: Yang C, Wang SZ, Chen S, Du S, Wang GQ, Guo W, Xie XL, Peng BH, Du SH, Zhao JP. Clinical practice guideline for acupuncture and moxibustion: Female urinary incontinence. J Integr Med. 2024; 22(3): 258-269.

The effect of pelvic floor muscle-strengthening exercises on low back pain: a systematic review and meta-analysis on randomized clinical trials

BACKGROUND

Low back pain is a musculoskeletal disorder (MSD), and Kegel exercise is considered as one of the non-surgical management methods. Therefore, the present systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to estimate the results of randomized clinical trials (RCT) about the effect of pelvic floor muscle-strengthening exercises on reducing low back pain‏.‏ METHODS: The present study was conducted according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses (PRISMA) guideline (2020) to January 2022. The relevant studies were searched in the MagIran, SID, PubMed, Embase, Web of Science (WoS), Scopus, ClinicalTrials.gov databases and Google Scholar motor engine using related MeSH/Emtree terms, which were combined with free text word. The heterogeneity of the studies was checked using I² statistic.

RESULTS

Finally, 19 RCTs with a sample size of 456 subjects in the intervention group and 470 in the control group were included in the meta-analysis. The low back pain intensity in the intervention group decreased up to 1.261 ± 0.213 (SMD ± 95% CI) with I² = 87.60 more than that in the control group (P <0.001). The low back pain intensity in postpartum women decreased up to 1.614 ± 0.312 (95% CI) followed by pregnant women as 1.282 ± 0.479 (SMD ± 95% CI) more than that in other populations. But due to high the heterogeneity in all sub-groups (I² > 80%) this result should be considered with caution. Meta-regression analysis showed the effect of pelvic floor muscle-strengthening exercises increased by increasing the year of publication, quality assessment score of the article, and the number of weeks of intervention (P<0.05).

CONCLUSION

Based on the results of the present meta-analysis, pelvic floor muscle-strengthening exercises significantly reduce the low back pain intensity. Therefore, these exercises can be regarded as a part of a low back pain management plan.