Assessment of a woman with stress urinary incontinence

Author(s): L. Bayliss - Pages: 17–20

Abstract

A 35-year-old woman was referred for probable stress urinary incontinence (SUI). A subjective assessment established that her symptoms had been present since the birth of her third child approximately 18 months before. The subject’s main complaint was of involuntary loss of urine on coughing and sneezing, and when running short distances. A vaginal examination detected no abnormalities. A structured pelvic floor muscle (PFM) exercise programme and "The Knack" were prescribed in order to reduce the symptoms of SUI. The management plan is predicted to produce excellent results since the subject has a good basic level of PFM function and is well-motivated now that a patient-centred goal has been set.

Keywords: exercise, pelvic floor muscles, stress urinary incontinence, transversus abdominis muscle, vaginal examination.