Core Stabilization Exercise in Prenatal and Postnatal Women With Urinary Incontinence: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials

Objective The aim of the study is to evaluate the effect size of core stabilization exercise for prenatal and postnatal women through measures of urinary symptoms, voiding function, pelvic floor muscle strength and endurance, quality of life, and pain scores.Design The PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, and Scopus databases were searched. Randomized controlled trials were selected and subjected to meta-analysis and risk of bias assessment.Results Ten randomized controlled trials were selected, and 720 participants were included. Ten articles using seven outcomes were analyzed. Relative to the control groups, the core stabilization exercise groups exhibited superior results for urinary symptoms (standardized mean difference = -0.65, 95% confidence interval = -0.97 to 0.33), pelvic floor muscle strength (standardized mean difference = 0.96, 95% confidence interval = 0.53 to 1.39), pelvic floor muscle endurance (standardized mean difference = 0.71, 95% confidence interval = 0.26 to 1.16), quality of life (standardized mean difference = -0.9, 95% confidence interval = -1.23 to 0.58), transverse muscle strength (standardized mean difference = -0.45, 95% confidence interval = -0.9 to -0.01), and voiding function (standardized mean difference = -1.07, 95% confidence interval = -1.87 to 0.28).Conclusions Core stabilization exercises are safe and beneficial for alleviating urinary symptoms, improving quality of life, strengthening pelvic floor muscles, and improving transverse muscle function in prenatal and postnatal women with urinary incontinence.