Pelvic floor muscle exercises are a mainstay in the treatment of pelvic floor disorders such as urinary incontinence, overactive bladder, pelvic organ prolapse, and fecal incontinence. Women are more likely to report improvement in incontinence symptoms when they participate in directly supervised pelvic floor physical therapy (PFPT) as opposed to performing recommended exercises without supervision. However, < 50% of women referred for PFPT complete their prescribed program. HIP Investigator, Dr. Heidi Brown et al. sought to determine whether consultation with PFPT at the time of initial urogynecologic evaluation increases adherence to PFPT and to identify factors associated with PFPT attendance and completion.
The authors were also interested in exploring the relationship between the rate of surgical management of patients seen in multidisciplinary clinic versus those seen in a traditional clinic and those who attended PFPT versus those who did not. They hypothesized that rates of PFPT adherence would be higher when the patient met with a physical therapist at her initial urogynecology consultation as opposed to meeting with the urogynecologist alone.
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