World Menopause Awareness Day – Addressing Pelvic Floor Issues
World Menopause Month:
Addressing Pelvic Floor Issues
What about the Pelvic Floor in Menopause?
The hormonal changes of the menopause bring many effects on the body, but one of the least talked-about is genitourinary syndrome of menopause (GSM). This was formerly known as vulvovaginal atrophy (VVA), and refers to changes in the urogenital systems, and to the anatomy and physiology of the vagina, leading to reduced bloodflow and decrease in strength of the local tissues (Portman et al, 2014). This can lead to symptoms including urinary incontinence, or sexual issues.
There are ways to address this medically, and the first post of call would be your GP, but and alongside this there are things that menopausal women can also do for themselves with the help of a specialist practitioner. Pelvic Floor Muscle Training, (PFMT) is an approach to proactively address the health of the pelvic floor with the guidance and expertise of a Pelvic Floor and Continence Physiotherapist, such as BCR’s Victoria Muir.
About the Research
There is evidence to show this approach can have good results:
• A randomised controlled study (RCT) involving 30 postmenopausal women (Alves & al, 2015), compared two groups, treatment and control. The treatment groups had 12 group sessions 2x/week of 30 minutes’ PFMT. There were statistically significant differences between groups after treatment, with increased pelvic floor muscle contractility, and decreased urinary symptoms.
• A 2019 (n=32) single-arm feasibility study embedded in a randomized controlled trial (RCT) examined PFMT for urinary incontinence. The researchers reported significant reductions in the patients’ GSM symptoms and signs, as well as in positive impacts on quality of life (QoL), activities of daily living (ADL) and sexual function.
• Mercier et al (2020; n=29) looked at mechanism of action of PFMT to improve GSM in postmenopausal, but with physiological measures. They found PFMT significantly improved blood flow parameters in local tissues; significantly increased speed of PFM relaxation after a contraction; increased in PFM strength and improved skin elasticity and introitus width.
Find Out More
To find out more, take a look at our page on Pelvic Floor and Continence Physiotherapy. Pelvic floor and Continence physiotherapy is also known as pelvic health. A specialised physiotherapist is able to teach clients struggling with continence issues how to correctly exercise and relax these muscles in the pelvic area, in order to retrain them to function properly.
Contact Victoria Muir, Pelvic Health Physiotherapist via her page for a consultation, and to find out more, today.
REFERENCES:
Alves, F.K., Riccetto, C., Adami, D.B., Marques, J., Pereira, L.C., Palma, P. and Botelho, S., 2015. A pelvic floor muscle training program in postmenopausal women: A randomized controlled trial. Maturitas, 81(2), pp.300-305.
Mercier, J., Morin, M., Tang, A., Reichetzer, B., Lemieux, M.C., Samir, K., Zaki, D., Gougeon, F. and Dumoulin, C., 2020. Pelvic floor muscle training: mechanisms of action for the improvement of genitourinary syndrome of menopause. Climacteric, 23(5), pp.468-473.
Portman, D.J., Gass, M.L.S. and Vulvovaginal Atrophy Terminology Consensus Conference Panel, 2014. Genitourinary syndrome of menopause: new terminology for vulvovaginal atrophy from the International Society for the Study of Women’s Sexual Health and The North American Menopause Society. Menopause, 21(10), pp.1063-1068.
