Early postpartum biofeedback assisted pelvic floor muscle training in primiparous women with second degree perineal laceration: Effect on sexual function and lower urinary tract symptoms

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the short-term effect of routine early postpartum electromyographic biofeedback assisted pelvic floor muscle training on sexual function and lower urinary tract symptoms.

Materials and methods: From December 2016 to November 2017, primiparous women with vaginal delivery, who experienced non-extended second-degree perineal laceration were invited to participate. Seventy-five participants were assigned into a pelvic floor muscle training (PFMT) group or control group. Women in the PFMT group received supervised biofeedback-assisted pelvic floor muscle training at the 1st week and 4th week postpartum. Exercises were performed at home with the same protocol until 6 weeks postpartum. The Pelvic Organ Prolapse Urinary Incontinence Sexual Questionnaire (PISQ-12) and the Urinary Distress Inventory short form questionnaire (UDI-6) were used to evaluate sexual function and lower urinary tract symptoms respectively at immediate postpartum, 6 weeks, 3 months, and 6 months postpartum.

Results: Forty-five women (23 in PFMT group,22 in control group) completed all questionnaires at 6 months postpartum. For overall sexual function and the three sexual functional domains, no statistically significant difference was found in PISQ scores from baseline to 6 weeks, 3 months, and 6 months postpartum between the PFMT and control groups. For postpartum lower urinary tract symptoms, all symptoms gradually improved over time for both groups without a statistically significant difference between groups.

Conclusion: Our study showed that supervised biofeedback-assisted pelvic floor muscle training started routinely at one week postpartum did not provide additional improvement in postpartum sexual function and lower urinary tract symptoms.

Keywords: Early intervention; Primiparous; Second-degree perineal laceration; Sexual function; Supervised pelvic floor muscle training.