Perineal Physiotherapy in Postpartum (PT-POSTPARTO)

University of Alcala

Status: Completed

Conditions: Post Partum

Treatments: Other: PFM training; Behavioral: Educational strategy; Other: HE

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT03247660

21/2013

Details and patient eligibility

About

Objective: To find out the effectiveness of pelvic-perineal physiotherapy in prevention and treatment of postpartum pelvic floor dysfunction caused by vaginal delivery.

Full description

Design: Randomized, controlled and single blinded clinical trial. Participants will be randomly assigned to one of these groups: Experimental group: pelvic-perineal physical therapy plus hypopressive exercises plus training in lifestyle advice; Experimental group II: hypopressive exercises plus training in lifestyle advice; Control group: just training in lifestyle advice. In the 3 groups several physical therapy assessments will be undertaken: 1st before intervention, 2nd immediately after completing intervention; 3th, 4th, 5th and 6th after 3, 6, 12 and 24 months. Study subjects: Postnatal women (6 and 8 weeks after vaginal delivery), primiparous, whose vaginal delivery has occurred in the "PrÍncipe de Asturias" Hospital, which have not been already treated for pelvic floor dysfunction, and after reading, understanding and freely signing an informed consent form. Sample size: 240 subjects will be included (80 subjects per group). Allowing for 15% of drop-outs and taking into account that 17% of women in the intervention group may develop pelvic floor dysfunction (urinary incontinence) versus 40% in the control group, with an alpha risk of 0.05, a beta risk of 0.1 in a bilateral contrast using the arcsine approximation. Data analysis: A descriptive analysis will be done of all variables. A confidence level of 95% (p <0,05) will be established for all the cases. Effectiveness will be evaluated by comparing between the two groups of the change in outcome variables between visits.

Enrollment: 240 patients

Sex: Female

Ages: 18 to 45 years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Postnatal women (6 and 8 weeks after vaginal delivery)
• Primiparous
• Whose vaginal delivery has occurred in the "Príncipe de Asturias" Hospital
• Women have not been already treated for pelvic floor dysfunction
• Women reading, understanding and freely signing an informed consent form

Exclusion criteria

• Postnatal women with medical diagnosis of pelvic floor dysfunction (PFD) prior to pregnancy and delivery
• Women with a history of conservative treatment or PFD surgery
• Women with concomitant or systemic disease that may affect the treatment (neurological, gynecological, urological or connective tissue), or with active or recurrent urinary infection without treatment at the time of the intervention proposed in this study, or hematuria
• Postnatal women with cognitive limitations to understand information, respond to questionnaires, consent and / or participate in the study.

Trial design

Primary purpose: Prevention

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Double Blind

---

240 participants in 3 patient groups

PFMT&HE group

Experimental group

Description:

A directly pelvic floor muscle (PFM) training protocol will be applied. Participants will performed PFM exercises in the way proposed by the PERFECT scheme. Biofeedback exercises will be also performed in lithotomy position. If the evolution of the women will allow it, the last two treatment biofeedback sessions will be conducted in standing position, to train PFM in more challenging and functional situation. In this group participants will be also trained hypopressive breathing and will perform five hypopressive exercises: two postures in supine, one on four-kneeling, and two in standing position. Educational strategy will also be applied. The intervention will last 8 weeks, 2 sessions per week. Each session will last 40/50 minutes.

Treatment:

Other: HE

Behavioral: Educational strategy

Other: PFM training

HE group

Experimental group

Description:

Women will be instructed in thirty-three Hypopressives exercises (HE) described by the developer of the Hypopressive Abdominal Gymnastics, Dr. Caufriez plus Educational strategy. The intervention will last 8 weeks, 2 sessions per week. Each session will last 40/50 minutes.

Treatment:

Other: HE

Behavioral: Educational strategy

Control group

Active Comparator group

Description:

The educational strategy will consist of instruction of printed materials and dimensional anatomical models about the anatomy of the pelvic floor and the physiology of the pelvic organs. It will be recommended to avoid risk factors, such as gaining weight, weight lifting, high impact sports, constipation, smoking, or drinking too much caffeine. They will also instruct in toilet habits, and will be taught to use the knack maneuver before and during increases of intra-abdominal pressure. The intervention will last 8 weeks, 1 session per week. Each session will last 40/50 minutes.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Educational strategy