How can Pelvic Floor Dysfunction (PFD) be effectively prevented and managed in military women?

Catrin Garrington @CatGarringtonPT Charles Sturt University Time zone: Australian Eastern Standard Time (AEST) GMT +10 hours Speaker biography: Fourth year Physiotherapy Honours student at Charles Sturt University, Albury, Australia. From Wales UK. Researching Pelvic Floor Dysfunction & interested in Women’s Health physiotherapy. Coffee addict. 1/10: How can Pelvic Floor Dysfunction (PFD) be effectively prevented and managed in military women? #PelvicFloorDysfunction #Military @CSUMedia #PTTC20 2/10: PFD has a significant impact on the occupational performance of #military women. PFD encompasses many conditions affecting the bladder, bowel and sexual function, such as #incontinence and pelvic organ prolapse. #PTTC20 3/10: Military women are required daily to participate in physical exercise as well as lifting or carrying items including equipment or heavy backpacks. These levels of extreme physical exertion may place female military personnel at risk of PFD development. #PhysicalActivity #PTTC20 4/10: The objective of my review is to determine whether specific prevention and management interventions exist in the female military population and how effective and safe these are. I will also investigate female elite athletes as they represent a similar population. #PTTC20 5/10: Clinical databases systematically searched include the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, the Cochrane database, the Defence Technical Information Centre, the Nursing and Allied Health Database, PubMed, SportsDiscus and WorldCat. #PTTC20 6/10: 581 articles were identified via database searching. 162 full-text articles were assessed for eligibility. Currently, 16 articles have been included. Results of the search, screening and selection processes are documented in a PRISMA diagram. #PTTC20 7/10: To appraise the methodological quality of research included in the review, the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool (MMAT) will be used. Data that will be extracted from the 16 articles will include the title, authors, publication year and study design. #PTTC20 https://tinyurl.com/w6dvr6b 8/10: Next, types of PFD prevention and management strategies that are employed by military women or elite athletes, as well as findings regarding their effectiveness will be extracted. A narrative synthesis approach will be used to condense and validate the results. #PTTC20 9/10: Thus far, military women appear to be using detrimental PFD management techniques such as fluid restriction, refraining from exercise and altering their occupational duties. It is also clear that prevention is key to reduce the impact of PFD. https://tinyurl.com/v7vgyw8 #PTTC20 10/10: It is vital to discover what techniques are used by military women so that an education program on PFD #prevention and #management can be developed to reduce the impact of PFD on the overall health, occupational performance and career prospects of military women. #PTTC20