Telehealth may help women with incontinence after giving birth

Women who experience urinary incontinence after giving birth may get just as much relief from telehealth as they do from physical therapy, a new UC San Francisco study has found.

It is the first comparison of telehealth to in-person pelvic physical therapy, and the results open the door to new ways of treating a condition that affects millions of women.

Over the next two decades, 43 million women are predicted to have a form of pelvic floor dysfunction.

Incontinence often begins after delivering a baby. As many as 30% of women develop incontinence following a first vaginal delivery, and if left untreated, it can become chronic. Preexisting cases also can be aggravated by labor.

Physical therapy can help treat the condition, but limited childcare and the need to work outside the home make it hard for some women to get treatment.

The study randomised 30 women to receive care either via telehealth or in person. They were on average 1.5 years postpartum, had a median age of 37, had delivered two babies and were in good health. The women reported their symptoms throughout the four-week study, and at five weeks and one year after it ended.

“This paper provides valuable preliminary evidence of telehealth’s effectiveness and overall satisfaction for treating stress urinary incontinence,” said Jennifer Kinder, an associate professor in the UCSF Department of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Science and a women’s health clinical specialist.

“This is an important step in creating more accessible and affordable care for our postpartum mothers.”

All the women’s symptoms improved significantly even a year after the study ended, and the improvements were similar for both groups.