Urinary incontinence is highly prevalent in women while pelvic floor muscle training is recommended as the first-line therapy. However, the exact treatment regimen is poorly understood. Also, patients with pelvic floor muscle damage may have decreased muscle proprioception and cannot contract their muscles properly. Other conservative treatments including electromagnetic stimulation are suggested by several guidelines. Thus, the present study aims to compare the effectiveness of electromagnetic stimulation combined with pelvic floor muscle training as a conjunct treatment for urinary incontinence and different treatment frequencies will be investigated.
This is a randomized, controlled clinical trial. We will include 165 patients with urinary incontinence from the outpatient center. Participants who meet the inclusion criteria will be randomly allocated to three groups: the pelvic floor muscle training group (active control group), the low-frequency electromagnetic stimulation group (group 1), and the high-frequency electromagnetic stimulation group (group 2). Both group 1 and group 2 will receive ten sessions of electromagnetic stimulation. Group 1 will be treated twice per week for 5 weeks while group 2 will receive 10 days of continuous treatment. The primary outcome is the change in International Consultation on Incontinence Questionnaire-Short Form cores after the ten sessions of the treatment, while the secondary outcomes include a 3-day bladder diary, pelvic floor muscle function, pelvic organ prolapse quantification, and quality of life assessed by SF-12. All the measurements will be assessed at baseline, after the intervention, and after 3 months of follow-up.
The present trial is designed to investigate the effects of a conjunct physiotherapy program for urinary incontinence in women. We hypothesize that this strategy is more effective than pelvic floor muscle training alone, and high-frequency electromagnetic stimulation will be superior to the low-frequency magnetic stimulation group.
Trials. 2024 Apr 26*** epublish ***
Chunmei Chen, Jing Zhang, Hong Zhang, Haiyan Li, Jucheng Yu, Yao Pei, Yuan Fang
Department of Women's Health, School of Medicine, Chengdu Women's and Children's Central Hospital, The Affiliatedffiliatedffiliated Women's and Children's Hospital, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China., Department of Women's Health, Jinniu Maternity and Child Health Hospital of Chengdu, Chengdu, China., Jiangsu Department of Science and Technology, Jiangsu Province Pelvic Floor Rehabilitation Engineering Technology Research Center, Zhenjiang, China., Li Chiu Kong Family Sleep Assessment Unit, Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China., State Key Laboratory of Emerging Infectious Diseases and Centre of Influenza Research, School of Public Health, LKS Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China., Jiangsu Department of Science and Technology, Jiangsu Province Pelvic Floor Rehabilitation Engineering Technology Research Center, Zhenjiang, China. .