Do Women Practise Pelvic Floor Exercises during Pregnancy or following Delivery?

The present study was carried out to investigate whether women chose to perform pelvic floor muscle exercises PFME) following routine instruction from health professionals, during pregnancy or following delivery. The motivation to exercise or not was also investigated. As described in the previous paper, questionnaires were sent out at 34 weeks of pregnancy to 918 women, and at eight weeks post-partum, to 894 women at two hospitals in the north-west of England. The questionnaire determined the prevalence of stress incontinence, and the frequency with which women performed PFME. Semi-structured interviews were also carried out with a sample of 42 women who reported symptoms of incontinence at eight weeks after delivery. The interviews collected information on instruction received in PFME and carrying out the exercises. While most women exercised their PFM, this was usually done on an irregular basis. Just 17% of women undertook daily PFME during pregnancy, and following delivery the figure was 20%. Women were motivated to exercise if they had a current problem with stress incontinence, however some asymptomatic women also exercised to prevent future symptoms from occurring. Knowing an incontinence sufferer and receiving instructions to exercise were also motivational factors. Few women exercised regularly enough for maximum benefit to be obtained. Many were keen to exercise their pelvic floor muscles (PFM) yet had a problem remembering to do the exercises. If PFME are to be taught as part of the routine care of women during pregnancy and childbirth, health professionals should also provide cues to exercise, as well as emphasising the need for regular exercise.