How do daily work activities affect women's pelvic health?

Purpose

This study aims to understand how everyday occupational activities like standing or speaking over the span of a shift of work may affect a woman's pelvic floor muscles' ability to support pelvic organs.  

Impact

Over their lifetime, 55% of women will experience urinary incontinence and 14% will experience symptomatic pelvic organ prolapse, typically associated with sneezing, jumping, running, coughing and shouting. It is thought that even job-related tasks like standing and talking could reduce pelvic floor support and lead to symptoms. By learning more about which daily work activities reduce muscular support for women’s pelvic regions, this research will help promote pelvic health for working women. 

Background

The pelvic floor muscles in women are a group of muscles located between the tailbone and the pubic bone that act to support the pelvic organs (e.g. bladder, bowel, and uterus). Dysfunction of the pelvic floor muscles is often related to symptoms such as urinary incontinence, pelvic organ prolapse, and pelvic pain. Prior research suggests that urinary incontinence and overactive bladder may be more common for women in jobs that require a lot of standing and loud speaking—Manual labor, nursing, service/retail, and teaching/coaching.