A Comparison of Pelvic Floor Muscle Exercises and Spinal Stabilization Exercises in Women with Stress Urinary Incontinence

The objective was to compare the effects of pelvic floor muscle exercise (PFME) and spinal stabilization exercise (SSE) on urinary symptoms, pelvic floor muscle strength (PFMS), quality of life (QoL), core stability, balance, spinal posture, and perception of subjective improvement (PSI) in women with stress urinary incontinence (SUI). Patients were randomly divided into PFME (n = 25) and SSE (n = 25) groups. The exercises of both groups was applied 3 days a week for 8 weeks. Urinary symptoms, PFMS, QoL, core stability, balance, spinal posture, and PSI were assessed using the International Consultation on Incontinence Questionnaire-Short Form (ICIQ-SF) and pad test, the Modified Oxford Scale (MOS), the King's Health Questionnaire (KHQ), the Sahrmann test, the Biodex Balance System, a Spinal Mouse device, and a Likert-type scale respectively. The ICIQ-SF, pad test, KHQ, and static balance scores of both groups decreased, whereas the MOS and Sahrmann scores increased (p