The Effect of Kegel Pelvic Floor Muscle Exercises on Urinary Retention, Pain, and Comfort Levels in Patients After Lumbar Disc Herniation Surgery: A Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial

April 22, 2026 updated by: Büşra Demirci, Saglik Bilimleri Universitesi
This study was planned as a randomized controlled trial to investigate the effects of Kegel pelvic floor muscle exercises on urinary retention and comfort levels of patients after lumbar disc herniation surgery.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Postoperative urinary retention is the inability to urinate despite having a full bladder after surgery. It is a relatively common complication of both outpatient and inpatient procedures. Most cases are transient and are managed by temporarily emptying the bladder with bladder catheterization.

Studies in the literature report that transient postoperative urinary retention is common after cervical and lumbar spine surgery procedures. This situation is of great importance in terms of healthcare services, as it can increase both the length of hospital stay and the cost.

Kegel pelvic floor muscle exercises involve the repeated contraction and relaxation of the muscles that form part of the pelvic floor. With these exercises, pelvic floor blood circulation can be increased, pelvic floor muscle tension can be increased, and the contraction of the relaxed bladder can be stimulated indirectly by repeated contraction and relaxation of the pelvic floor muscles, and urine output can be achieved. Therefore, we think that these exercises, which are safe, cost-effective exercises that can be easily applied by healthcare personnel, and patient comfort among nursing practices to improve perioperative results and functional status, will have an effect in preventing urinary retention.

There are no experimental studies in the literature evaluating the effect of Kegel exercises applied after lumbar disc herniation surgery on urinary retention. Therefore, this study was planned to be conducted in patients who will undergo lumbar disc herniation surgery.

This study was planned as a single-center prospective randomized controlled experimental study. After obtaining verbal and written consent from the patients before surgery, the study will be conducted with various data collection forms.

These forms; Patient Information Form, Postoperative Data Collection Form, Numeric Rating Scale (NRS) to determine the pain level of the patients and Visual Analog Scale (VAS) to evaluate the comfort level. Patients will be randomized. Group I will be the Kegel pelvic floor muscle exercise group (n=29), Group II will be the control group (n=29). It is planned to measure the urinary retention and comfort levels of both groups in the postoperative period.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

58

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • Turkey (Türkiye)
    • University of Health Sciences
      • Ankara, University of Health Sciences, Turkey (Türkiye)
        • Büşra Demirci

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Agreeing to participate in the study
  • Over 18 years of age
  • No communication barrier
  • Having undergone lumbar disc herniation surgery under general anesthesia
  • Being immobile for the first 8 hours postoperatively
  • Not having a urinary catheter inserted during the intraoperative period

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Refusal to participate in the study
  • Previous urinary disorders/symptoms (such as Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia)
  • Spinal trauma, preoperative neurological disorder
  • Patients with preoperative catheterization

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Prevention
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Kegel Pelvic Floor Muscle Exercise Group
Kegel exercises will be performed by the researcher within the first 8 hours after being taken to the clinic room to perform the Kegel pelvic floor muscle exercises while in the supine position. Urinary retention and comfort level of patients will be evaluated after surgery.
Other: Kegel Pelvic Floor Muscle Exercise Group
After the surgery, the patients will be taken to the clinic room in a supine position and the researcher will perform the Kegel pelvic floor muscle exercises three times at the 1st, 4th and 7th hours within the first 8 hours after the patients are taken to the clinic room.
No Intervention: Control Group
Urinary retention and comfort level of patients will be evaluated after surgery.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Effect of Kegel pelvic floor muscle exercises on urinary retention of patients after lumbar disc herniation surgery.
Time Frame: After completing Kegel pelvic floor muscle exercises in the first 8 hours after surgery.
Kegel pelvic floor muscle exercises will affect the urinary retention of patients after lumbar disc herniation surgery. Urinary retention will be evaluated using the Postoperative Data Collection Form developed by the researchers based on the literature. This form includes items assessing signs and symptoms of urinary retention within the first 8 hours postoperatively, such as pressure in the lower abdomen, pain in the lower abdomen, feeling of restlessness, and desire to urinate within 8 hours. Each symptom is assessed separately using the Visual Analog Scale (VAS).
After completing Kegel pelvic floor muscle exercises in the first 8 hours after surgery.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Effect of Kegel pelvic floor muscle exercises on comfort level after lumbar disc herniation surgery
Time Frame: After completing Kegel pelvic floor muscle exercises in the first 8 hours after surgery.
Kegel pelvic floor muscle exercises will affect comfort level of patients after lumbar disc herniation surgery. The comfort level of the patients will be evaluated with VAS. VAS is used to convert some unmeasurable values into numerical values. VAS is a horizontal line with a length of 10 cm. According to VAS, 0 is the lowest level and 10 is the highest level. Patients will be asked to mark these levels on the 10 cm line.
After completing Kegel pelvic floor muscle exercises in the first 8 hours after surgery.

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Saglik Bilimleri Universitesi

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

August 14, 2024

Primary Completion (Actual)

April 22, 2026

Study Completion (Actual)

April 22, 2026

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

August 14, 2024

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

August 27, 2024

First Posted (Actual)

August 29, 2024

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

April 28, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 22, 2026

Last Verified

April 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 15151515

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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