Effect of Flexi-bar combined with core exercises on pelvic floor muscles in postpartum women with stress urinary incon-tinence
Objective:To observe the effects of core exercises and Flexi-bar combined with core exercises on pelvic floor muscle function,severity of stress urinary incontinence(SUI)and quality of life in postpartum women with SUI.Methods:A total of 45 postpartum women with mild and moderate SUI who met the inclusion criteria were randomly divided into Kegel group,core exercise group(referred to as core group)and Flexi-bar combined with core exercise group(referred to as Flexi-bar group),with 15 cases in each group,and underwent corresponding pelvic floor muscle training for 30 min a day,5 days a week for 12 weeks.The Kegel group underwent traditional pelvic floor muscle contraction training.The core group underwent core movements exercise,including four sets of move-ments(bird-dog exercise,elbow and knee plank,leg lift and lower limbs adduction when standing).The Flexi-bar group underwent the core movements exercise with active hand-held flexi-bar vibration.The maximum displacement and the maintenance time of the bladder base by transabdominal ultrasound(TAUS),the ICIQ-SF score and the I-QOL score were evaluated and compared before and after the experiment.Results:After 12 weeks of training,the maximum displacement and the maintenance time of the bladder base and I-QOL scores in 3 groups were significantly increased(P<0.01),while ICIQ-SF scores were significantly decreased(P<0.01).After 12 weeks of training,the maximum displacement and the maintenance time of the bladder base in Flexi-bar group were higher than those in core group and Kegel group(P<0.05).There was no significant difference in ICIQ-SF score among the three groups.I-QOL scores in core group and Flexi-bar group were higher than those in Kegel group(P<0.05).Conclu-sion:All the three training methods can improve pelvic floor function,reduce the severity of SUI,and improve the quality of life.The improvement of pelvic floor function in Flexi-bar group was better than that in core group and Kegel group,and the improvement of quality of life in Flexi-bar group and core group was higher than that in Kegel group.