Comparative Study on the Effects of Pelvic Floor Muscle Exercises and Abdominal Muscle Training in Functional Constipation among Children

Life Sciences-Physiotherapy for better pain management

Abstract

To    compare    the    effects   of   pelvic   floor   muscle   exercise   and   abdominal   muscle   training,   breathing exercisesandabdominal massage in children with functional constipation. Functional constipation is one the most common gastrointestinal condition in pediatrics practice with an estimation prevalence ranging from 0.7% to 29.6%. It has a multifactorial pathophysiology mainly consisting of stool with holding and delayed colonic transit.30 subjects who met theRome-III criteriafor pediatric  functional  constipationwere  randomly  divided  into  2 groups. Group-A  was trained  with  pelvic floor  muscle  exercise along with squat walking   for 5 min under  supervision of parents.  Exercise duration was increased 5 min per  week, for two consecutive weeks and remained the same for the next six weeks and Kegels was performed  for 10 seconds. Group-B was given isometric training of the abdominal muscle which was carried out in two ways. The patient was either lying down in a left lateral decubitus position with the hip and knee flexed at 90° with two series of eight contractions and relaxations until the third week and was then  increased  to  two  series  of  12 contractions  and relaxations  for 6 weeks. In the  sitting  or  lying down  method, training began with one series of three  contractions and relaxations lasting 10 s which  was increased  to five repetitions in the third week until the sixth week along with abdomen tuck-in exercise. Diaphragmatic breathing and abdominal massage was given to  both  groups in common.   The intervention  of the study was about  8 weeks.Results of  statistical  analysis showed  that  both Pelvic Floor Muscle Exercises and Abdominal Muscle Training are  effective in treating functional constipation among children. However  pelvic floor muscle exercise was better  than abdominal muscle training on the basis of Wexner  Construction Scoring System.