Is there a difference in balance between continent and incontinent women?

Abstract

Introduction: Urinary incontinence is defined as any involuntary loss of urine. An imbalance in the transmission of forces between the bladder and urethra, associated with deficient support of the pelvic floor muscles, contributes to an alteration in balance in women. Objective: To compare balance between continent and incontinent women. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study with 13 women divided into incontinent (age: 41.50 ± 9.13 years) and continent (age: 35.29 ± 4.99 years) groups. Balance assessments were performed using a force platform and electromyography: standing, with eyes open (BI_OA); standing, with eyes closed (BI_OF); standing on foam, with eyes open (ESP_OA) and closed (ESP_OF); and standing with unipedal support, with eyes open (UNI_OA). Statistical analysis was initiated after resampling of the original data using the bootstrap technique, with the α value set at 5% (p < 0.05). Results: In the BI_OA task, no significant differences were found between the groups. In the BI_OF task, incontinent women showed greater displacement in the anteroposterior axis (p < 0.001), and continent women showed greater displacement in the mediolateral axis (p = 0.008). In the ESP_OA task, incontinent women showed greater displacement in both the COP_X (p = 0.003) and COP_Y (p = 0.001) axes; in the ESP_OF task, continent women showed greater displacement in the COP_X (p < 0.001) axis. In the UNI_OA task, greater anteroposterior displacement was observed among incontinent women (p = 0.008). Conclusion: Continent women showed greater displacement in the mediolateral axis in the tasks with eyes closed, and incontinent women showed greater displacement in the anteroposterior axis in the BI_OF, ESP_OA, and UNI_OA tasks.