Pelvic yoga on par with physical conditioning in reducing urinary incontinence in women

A pelvic yoga program for 12 weeks does not seem to be better than a general muscle stretching and strengthening program in lowering urinary incontinence (UI) in midlife and older women suffering from daily UI, reports a study. 

This randomized controlled trial conducted at three sites in California, US, included 240 ambulatory women aged 45 years or older who were reporting daily urgency-, stress-, or mixed-type UI. 

Participants were randomly assigned to receive a 12-week, twice-weekly group instruction and once-weekly self-directed practice of pelvic floor-specific Hatha yoga techniques (pelvic yoga) or equivalent-time instruction and practice of general skeletal muscle stretching and strengthening exercises (physical conditioning). Three-day voiding diaries were used to assess total and type-specific UI frequency. 

The mean baseline UI frequency of these women was 3.4 episodes per day, including 1.9 urgency-type and 1.4 stress-type episodes per day. 

Total UI frequency, the primary outcome, dropped by an average of 2.3 episodes per day with pelvic yoga and 1.9 episodes per day with physical conditioning (between-group difference, −0.3 episodes per day, 95 percent confidence interval [CI], −0.7 to 0.0) over 12 weeks. 

Urgency-type UI frequency also decreased by 1.2 episodes per day with pelvic yoga and by 1.0 episode per day with physical conditioning (between-group difference, −0.3 episodes per day, 95 percent CI, −0.5 to 0.0). On the other hand, no between-group difference was noted for reductions in stress-type UI (−0.1 episode per day, 95 percent CI, −0.3 to 0.3). 

This study was limited by the lack of comparison to no treatment or other clinical UI treatments.