Pelvic floor muscle training as treatment of stress incontinence. The effectiveness of vaginal cones]

Pelvic floor muscle training is the mainstream of the non-operative treatment for female stress urinary incontinence. However, in order to make this method effective, it is mandatory to learn how to correctly contract pelvic floor muscles. Thirty adult women suffering from mild stress incontinence were instructed to train their pelvic muscles using vaginal cones. They retained cones of increasing weight in the vagina by contracting pelvic floor for 15 minutes twice a day. Twenty-seven of 30 (90%) patients could complete the training in five weeks. Both incidence and degree of incontinence decreased significantly after the training. The subjective improvement rate (incontinence cured or decreased by 50%) was 70%. The cone weights which they could hold over one minute and the voluntary pelvic floor contractions measured with the perineometer increased significantly, which indicated strengthening of pelvic floor muscles. Vaginal cones have a shape similar to tampons and are accepted by Japanese women with little psychological resistance. This device helps the patients to understand how to contract pelvic floor muscles and to motivate them to continue training, thus contributing for the treatment of stress incontinence.