Can Pelvic Floor Muscle Training Reduce my Prolapse

Can Pelvic Floor Muscle Training Reduce my Prolapse? A Randomised Controlled Trial Comparing the Effect of Pelvic Floor Muscle Training and Lifestyle Advice on Pelvic Organ Prolapse

Purpose The aim of this study is to examine if a structured pelvic floor muscle training combined with lifestyle advice with can improve pelvic organ prolapse (POP) symptoms more than structured lifestyle advice programme alone.

Background Pelvic organ prolapse (POP) is a common condition among adult women and almost one in ten women experience symptoms caused by POP. The key symptom of POP is seeing or feeling a bulge in the vaginal opening but POP often gives other symptoms, such as pain, difficulty emptying the bladder or the bowel, incontinence and sexual problems such as dyspareunia.

A majority of women with POP will be offered reconstructive surgery but the risk of reoperations is substantial and surgery may cause new symptoms. In one out of four women surgery does not relieve symptoms and the women have been exposed to unnecessary risk of complications.

It is therefore important to evaluate the effect of conservative treatments for POP. New studies have shown that pelvic floor muscle training offered in combination with lifestyle advice has a significant on POP symptoms and objective measures of POP compared to a lifestyle advice leaflet alone.

No studies have compared the effect of a combined pelvic floor muscle training and lifestyle advice programme with a structured programme of lifestyle advice and hypothetically the structured lifestyle advice programme could have a substantial effect on its own. Our hypothesis is that the pelvic floor muscle training is a vital component of a conservative treatment for POP.

Methods In this single-blind randomised controlled study women with POP will randomised to either a programme of structured pelvic floor muscle training combined with lifestyle advice or a structured lifestyle advice programme alone. Both groups will receive the same lifestyle advices through six (separate) lectures within 12 weeks. The training group will be examined and individually instructed in pelvic floor muscle training before the intervention starts and they will, in continuation with their lifestyle lectures, perform pelvic floor muscle training as group training

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Pelvic Organ Prolapse
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Pelvic floor muscle training and lifestyle advice; Behavioral: Lifestyle advice

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 108
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Denmark
  • Copenhagen, Denmark, DK - 2730
    • Copenhagen University Hospital at Herlev

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: Female

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• ≥18 years of age female reporting bothersome symptoms of any type of POP
• Newly referred to the hospital clinic
• Prolapse ≥II POP-Q
• Understand and write Danish

Exclusion Criteria:

• Instruction in pelvic floor muscle training within the last two years
• Dementia
• Pregnancy or less than one year postnatal
• Disorders that can affect ability to participate in the intervention such as neurological or psychiatric disorders

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Treatment
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: Single

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Group 1; Group 1 will be individually examined and instructed in pelvic floor muscle training before the intervention starts by specialized physiotherapists. The examination includes a vaginal or an anal examination. The women attend six group sessions within 12 weeks containing structured information about POP and the possible affection of POP on quality of life, exercising and sexual relationship. The lifestyle advice contains information about life style changes that could improve POP symptoms, such as bladder and bowel habits, coughing, heavy lifting, eating habits and weight loss. The women will perform pelvic floor muscle training in the group and they will perform pelvic floor muscle training at home. The training will be individually planned according to the findings of the pelvic floor physiotherapist. The women in the intervention group fill in an exercise diary and also describe on a Visual Analog Scale if the training causes any bother.	Behavioral: Pelvic floor muscle training and lifestyle advice; Group 1 will be individually examined and instructed in pelvic floor muscle training before the intervention starts by specialized physiotherapists. The examination includes a vaginal or an anal examination. The women attend six group sessions within 12 weeks containing structured information about POP and the possible affection of POP on quality of life, exercising and sexual relationship and information that could improve POP symptoms, such as bladder and bowel habits, coughing, heavy lifting, eating habits and weight loss. The women will perform pelvic floor muscle training in the group and perform pelvic floor muscle training at home. The training will be individually planned according to the findings of the pelvic floor physiotherapist. The women in the intervention group fill in an exercise diary and also describe on a Visual Analog Scale if the training causes any bother.
Active Comparator: Group 2; Group 2 attend six group sessions within 12 weeks containing structured information about POP and the possible affection of POP on quality of life, exercising and sexual relationship. The lifestyle advice contains information about life style changes that could improve POP symptoms, such as bladder and bowel habits, coughing, heavy lifting, eating habits and weight loss	Behavioral: Lifestyle advice; Group 2 attend six group sessions within 12 weeks containing structured information about POP and the possible affection of POP on quality of life, exercising and sexual relationship. The lifestyle advice contains information about life style changes that could improve POP symptoms, such as bladder and bowel habits, coughing, heavy lifting, eating habits and weight loss

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Time Frame
Patient Global Index of Improvement scale (PGI-I)	three months after ended intervention

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Objective pelvic organ prolapse measured with the pelvic organ prolapse Quantification system (POP-Q)		before, right after, three and 12 months after the intervention has ended
Pelvic Floor Distress Inventory - short form 20 (PFDI-20)	Validated condition-specific questionnaire	right after, three months and 12 months after ended intervention
Pelvic Floor Impact Questionnaire - short form 7 (PFIQ-7)	Validated condition-specific questionnaire	right after, three months and 12 months after ended intervention
Background variables	age, parity, BMI, working status as predictors of effect of the intervention	At time of inclusion
Size of levator hiatus and presence of levator ani avulsions examined through transperineal ultrasound	as predictors of effect of the intervention	At time of inclusion
Cost-effectiveness	Need for further treatment and calculation of economic costs for both interventions compared to number of surgeries avoided will be evaluated	12 months after ended intervention
Patient Global Index of Improvement scale (PGI-I)		Right after ended intervention and 12 months after ended intervention

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Copenhagen University Hospital at Herlev

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start: August 1, 2012
• Primary Completion (Actual): April 1, 2015
• Study Completion (Actual): April 1, 2015

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: June 4, 2012
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: June 5, 2012
• First Posted (Estimate): June 6, 2012

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Estimate): February 3, 2016
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: February 2, 2016
• Last Verified: July 1, 2014

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Pelvic floor muscle training; Ultrasonography; Pelvic organ prolapse; Predictors; Prolapse symptoms; Pelvic organ prolapse quantification system
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Pathological Conditions, Anatomical; Prolapse; Pelvic Organ Prolapse
• Other Study ID Numbers: H-4-2011-072