INFLUENCE OF PELVIC FLOOR PHYSIOTHERAPY ON AFFECTIVE SYMPTOMS IN WOMEN WITH URINARY INCONTINENCE

Abstract

 Background: there are plenty of studies which confirm the relationship between urinary incontinence and depression and anxiety, but only a few of them have focused on the relief of urinary symptoms due to Physiotherapy. Objective: the aim of this study is to prove that pelvic floor muscles training, by means of Biofeedback, is effective for psychological welfare in incontinent women, whatever its clinical presentation is stress incontinence, urge incontinence and mixed in continence. Material and methods: therefore, we have designed causal-comparative research with retrospective pretest, in a 35-woman sample with a wide range of age, whose average was 53,66 and with a standard deviation of 11,66. All women underwent Physiotherapy treatment during the years 2003 and 2005. A questionnaire was developed for data collection; this one included personal, gynecological, urological and treatment data, and a specific questionnaire, based on the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), was used to assess psychological welfare. Results: the results proved that Physiotherapy treatment was effective for women´s psychological sphere, and modifications with a signification p < 0.001 were found, which meant that Physiotherapy interventions were effective for this variable in the patients. Discussion: the conclusions of this study are that Physio-therapy treatment for urinary incontinence was effective to improve psychological welfare in our sample.