Hypothesis / aims of study
The hypothesis is that after practicing Women's gymnastics, a method of body exercises that works on posture, breathing, and body awareness along with training pelvic floor muscles, women will show an improvement in their knowledge of the pelvic region and the action of the pelvic floor muscles, what would decrease urine loss during physical activities, besides improving their quality of life, compared to those in control group. The aim of study is to verify the best approach applied remotely and synchronously to promote quality of life and improvement of urinary incontinence in women over 60 years of age: Women's gymnastics performed in groups or women's gymnastics performed individually, compared to a control group.
Study design, materials and methods
A pilot, experimental, randomized and controlled study. Sample calculation was performed with the GPower program, finding a number of 21 women per group. The volunteers who agreed to participate, signed the consent form and answered a sociodemographic data questionnaire, the ICIQ-sf and Kings Health Questionnaire (KHQ). They were randomized into three groups: Group women's gymnastics (GG), individual women's gymnastics (IG) and control group (CG). They participated in five remote meetings, lasting one hour, once a week, for five weeks. In each meeting they perform exercises of the Women's Gymnastics, a exercise method that focus on pelvic floor muscle exercises and their integration with breathing, posture and whole body movements. After five weeks, women answered the ICIQ-sf and KHQ questionnaires, in order to compare with the first evaluation.
Interpretation of results
A synchronous remote exercise program, focusing on body awareness and pelvic floor muscle training was able to promote health for women over 60 years of age, with its benefits demonstrated by decreasing the means of the ICIQ-sf score.