Effect of Kegel Exercises on the Management of Female Stress Urinary Incontinence: A Systematic Review of Randomized Controlled Trials

Abstract

Objective. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of Kegel exercises on reducing urinary incontinence symptoms in women with stress urinary incontinence. Methods. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) were conducted on females with stress urinary incontinence who had done Kegel exercises and met inclusion criteria in articles published between 1966 and 2012. The articles from periodicals indexed in KoreaMed, NDSL, Ovid Medline, Embase, Scopus, and other databases were selected, using key terms such as “Kegel” or “pelvic floor exercise.” Cochrane’s risk of bias was applied to assess the internal validity of the RCTs. Eleven selected studies were analyzed by meta-analysis using RevMan 5.1. Results. Eleven trials involving 510 women met the inclusion criteria. All trials contributed data to one or more of the main or secondary outcomes. They indicated that Kegel exercises significantly reduced the urinary incontinence symptoms of female stress urinary incontinence. There was no heterogeneity in the selected studies except the standardized bladder volumes of the pad test. Conclusion. There is some evidence that, for women with stress urinary incontinence, Kegel exercises may help manage urinary incontinence. However, while these results are helpful for understanding how to treat or cure stress urinary incontinence, further research is still required.