[The efficacy of a physiotherapy program in the treatment of stress urinary incontinence in a female rural population].

OBJECTIVES

To find the acceptance and efficacy of our protocol for exercises of the pelvic floor over short and long periods for women with urinary stress incontinence seen at our health centre.

DESIGN

A prospective intervention study.

SETTING

Marquesado Health Area: a rural zone to the east of Granada.

PARTICIPANTS

72 women between the ages of 20 and 65 with genuine urinary stress incontinence.

INTERVENTION: Application of a pelvic physiotherapy procedure of two simple exercises. At the consultation with doctor and nurse on inclusion in the programme, a questionnaire was filled, the exercises were explained and an explanatory leaflet was given out. Nursing staff attended the women on days 1, 2, 7, 15, 25, 40 and 60.

MEASUREMENTS AND

RESULTS

72 women with genuine urinary stress incontinence were studied. Their ages ran from 20 to 65 (average 53). 55 women (76.3%) completed the treatment protocol at 60 days. Of these 55, 24 (43.8%) were dry at two months, 12 (21.1%) had improved, 18 (32.7%) experienced no change and 1 (1.8%) reported an increase in her incontinence. We assessed the amount of urine loss, by means of a continence apparatus and through the patients' subjective view. 67.7% of the women with slight incontinence were fully cured, whereas none of those with considerable incontinence were.

CONCLUSIONS

Both the efficacy and efficacy of the protocol are highly satisfactory in our community. Our protocol is more efficacious for young women and those with little incontinence.