Kegel Exercises Offer Long-Term Benefit For Some Incontinent Women

Researchers reported in an article published in the British Journal of Urology International that Kegel pelvic floor muscle (PFM) exercises help control genuine stress incontinence for at least 10 years in many women for whom the training was initially successful.

Dr. H. Cammu, of Vrije Universiteit Brussel in Belgium, and colleagues assessed the effectiveness of PFM exercises for 45 women, ages 30 to 81 years, 10 years after the completion of a PFM training program. Although PFM training is a longstanding and accepted therapy for stress incontinence previous data was limited to study periods of not more than 2 years

The study showed that 24 of the 45 subjects (53%) had found the therapy successful initially. Two thirds of this subgroup remained satisfied.

Women for whom PFM remained successful over the 10 years had practiced their exercises more regularly than the others.

Researchers found that only two of the 24 patients in the initially successful group had required surgery, in contrast to more than half of the 21 patients who were not initially successful. Based on these findings, they conclude that there is "an excellent chance" that PFM training, if initially successful, will help patients avoid surgery in the subsequent decade.

Investigators concluded that maintaining PFM strength is important for achieving long-term incontinence control.