New pelvic floor muscle exercise program would alleviate stress urinary incontinence in middle-aged and older women in a farming community

2016 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 26670969
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Lifelong developmental nursing
• Research Institution: Hirosaki University
• Principal Investigator: KAWASAKI Kumiko 弘前大学, 保健学研究科, 講師 (60292166)
• Co-Investigator(Renkei-kenkyūsha): IGARASHI Setsuko 弘前大学, 大学院保健学研究科, 准教授 (40250625) ; TAKAHASHI Junpei 弘前大学, 大学院保健学研究科, 助教 (30583968) ; AKAIKE Arata 環境省, 福島環境再生事務所, 放射線健康管理官 (50431440) ; KOIKE Yuji 埼玉県立大学, 保健医療福祉学部, 助教 (10610694)
• Research Collaborator: TSUSHIMA Hitoshi 弘前大学, 名誉教授
• Project Period (FY): 2014-04-01 – 2017-03-31
• Keywords: 中高年女性 / 尿もれ / QOL / 骨盤底筋体操 / 筋活動 / 複合運動

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The objectives of this study were to investigate stress urinary incontinence, a hidden social issue among women , and to develop a pelvic floor muscle exercise program that would be effective and maintainable. Approximately 10% of subjects experience stress urinary incontinence every day and either do nothing to treat it or use pads. Study subjects with stress urinary incontinence had lower scores on seven health-related quality of life items compared with standard national values. We believe that it is necessary to introduce an exercise method that can be easily performed in daily life. A basic study of muscle activities revealed that it was difficult to achieve a sufficient level of pelvic floor muscle activity using commonly used pelvic floor muscle exercises; however, study results suggested that it was possible to attain efficient muscle activity using compound exercises of the lower extremity and trunk.

Free Research Field

成人女性の健康問題に関する研究