Can Pelvic Floor Muscle Training Reduce my Prolapse

NCT ID: NCT01612637

Last Updated: 2016-02-03

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: COMPLETED
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 108 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2012-08-31
• Study Completion Date: 2015-04-30

Brief Summary

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

Conditions

Pelvic Organ Prolapse

Study Design

• Allocation Method: RANDOMIZED
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Primary Study Purpose: TREATMENT
• Blinding Strategy: SINGLE

Study Groups

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.

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Pelvic floor muscle training and lifestyle advice

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

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.

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

Group Type: ACTIVE_COMPARATOR

Lifestyle advice

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

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

Interventions

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.

Intervention Type: 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

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Eligibility Criteria

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

• Minimum Eligible Age: 18 Years
• Eligible Sex: FEMALE
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Sponsors

Copenhagen University Hospital at Herlev

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Responsibility Role: SPONSOR

Locations

Copenhagen University Hospital at Herlev

Copenhagen, , Denmark

Countries

Denmark

Other Identifiers

H-4-2011-072

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id