Urology Research & Practice
FEMALE UROLOGY - Review

Physiotherapy in Patients with Stress Urinary Incontinence: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

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Department of Physiotherapy, Faculty of Rehabilitation Sciences, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran

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Department of Physiotherapy, Faculty of Rehabilitation Sciences, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

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Research Center for Evidence-Based Medicine, Iranian EBM Centre: A JBI Centre of Excellence, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Tabriz, Iran

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Pelvic Care Unit Maastricht, CAPHRI, Maastricht University Medical Centre (MUMC+), Maastricht, The Netherlands

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Research Center for Evidence-Based Medicine, Iranian EBM Center: A Joanna Briggs Institute Center of Excellence, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran

Urol Res Pract 2023; 49: 293-306
DOI: 10.5152/tud.2023.23018
Read: 2085 Downloads: 613 Published: 29 September 2023

Physiotherapy is the most commonly used treatment for stress urinary incontinence including pelvic floor muscle training, biofeedback, and electrical stimulation. This systematic review evaluated the effects of physiotherapy in patients with stress urinary incontinence compared with no treatment, placebo, sham, surgery, or other inactive control treatments. MEDLINE (via PubMed), The Cochrane Library (CENTRAL), Embase, Scopus, Web of Science, PEDro, and Trip Database were explored using applicable vocabularies for all English and Persian language investigations released from inception to January 2021. On one side, trials including physiotherapy of pelvic floor muscle training, biofeedback, and electrical stimulation and on the other, either no treatment, placebo, sham, surgery, or other inactive control treatments were included. Studies were assessed for appropriateness and methodological excellence. Two authors extracted data. Disagreements were resolved by a third opinion. Data were processed as described in the Joanna Briggs Institute Handbook. Twenty-nine trials with 2601 participants were found, but only 16 were included because of data heterogeneity. The results showed that physiotherapy interventions are better than no treatment in terms of urine leakage, but no difference was found for urinary incontinence severity. Also, physiotherapy showed favorable results over comparison groups for International Consultation on Incontinence Questionnaire, pad test, pelvic floor muscle function, and improvement outcomes. This systematic review supports the widespread use of pelvic physiotherapy as the first-line treatment for adult patients with stress urinary incontinence.

Cite this article as: Ghaderi F, Kharaji G, Hajebrahimi S, Pashazadeh F, Berghmans B, Salehi Pourmehr H. Physiotherapy in patients with stress urinary incontinence: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Urol Res Pract. 2023;49(5):293-306.

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