Yoga-Pilates Exercise & the Effects on Urethral Rhabdosphincter Morphology and Stress Urinary Incontinence

Summary

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Description

Stress urinary incontinence (SUI) affects up to 1/3 of women and negatively impacts multiple aspects of a woman's life. Pelvic floor physical therapy has been shown to improve stress incontinence through multiple mechanisms, including rhabdosphincter hypertrophy. Yoga and Pilates have also been show...

Stress urinary incontinence (SUI) affects up to 1/3 of women and negatively impacts multiple aspects of a woman's life. Pelvic floor physical therapy has been shown to improve stress incontinence through multiple mechanisms, including rhabdosphincter hypertrophy. Yoga and Pilates have also been shown to improve stress incontinence but there is a key gap in understanding how yoga-Pilates impacts urethral function and if these exercises represent a viable option for treating SUI. To fill this gap a new exercise is proposed: a web-based 8-week yoga-Pilates pelvic floor workout. The investigators plan to enroll women with SUI and compare urethral rhabdosphincter cross-sectional area in a pre-post intervention study. The investigators will also administer validated quality of life and severity measures for SUI to evaluate the potential efficacy of yoga-Pilates. The overarching goal of this project is to determine how yoga-Pilates impact urethral function and if these exercises decrease SUI symptoms.

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