The effect of pelvic floor muscle exercises on sexual function in women with multiple sclerosis: a pre – post intervention clinical trial

Abstract

Background. Sexual dysfunction (SD) is a common symptom in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). In women with MS, there are no specific pharmacological or non-pharmacological therapies which have been proven effective for SD. Objectives. The main objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of pelvic floor muscle exercises on improving sexual function in women with MS. Material and methods. This study was a pre-/post-intervention clinical trial conducted on 45 MS women who had been referred to the MS Clinic in Ahvaz, Iran. All participants were selected by the purposeful sampling method. The data collection tools in this study included a demographic data form and the Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI) questionnaire. The study participants (n = 45) performed pelvic floor muscle exercises for 12 consecutive weeks. The data were analyzed as descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviation) with the Shapiro-Wilk test, the independent t-test, and the paired t-test using SPSS software version 24; a p-value of < 0.05 was selected as the significance level. Results. The results revealed that after pelvic floor muscle exercise, the mean score of sexual function of women with MS had increased from 10.58 to 30.17 and that this increase was statistically significant (p = 0.001). Conclusions. Pelvic floor muscle exercise can improve sexual function in women with MS. Thus, performing these exercises is recommended as an easy and cost-effective method to improve the sexual function of these patients.

Reliability, validity and distribution of the Spanish female sexual function index in women with relapsing multiple sclerosis

“…One study specifically reported overactive bladder as an independent factor of SD in women with MS [ 43 ]. For those women suffering from sphincter symptoms, therapeutic interventions have shown an improvement in SD after non-blinded, single-arm trials [ 63 – 65 ]. The potential negative effect of CNS depressants on SD in our population was observed but did not reach statistical significance after correcting for multiple comparisons.…”