Fisioterapia no tratamento de incontinência urinaria em pessoas idosas: uma revisão integrativa

Abstract

The human aging process is associated with systemic physiological changes and significant declines in neuromuscular function and performance in the elderly. Among the repercussions is urinary incontinence, which is characterized as involuntary loss of urine. Urinary incontinence can be classified according to type, clinic and mechanism. The study aimed to conduct a literature review on the physiotherapeutic treatment of urinary incontinence in elderly people. This is a bibliographic study of the type integrative literature review carried out in the LILACS and Google Scholar databases. Inclusive criteria are articles published in Portuguese, English and Spanish, carried out from 2016 to 2020. Exclusion criteria are those publications that provided only the abstract, monographs, theses and dissertations. The chosen descriptors found in the Decs (Health Descriptors) were: elderly, urinary incontinence and physiotherapy, together with their English counterparts: Elderly, Urinary Incontinence and Physiotherapy, with the Boolean search engine AND. 2,277 articles were found, in which for this study the sample obtained was 6 articles. The results showed the strengthening of the pelvic floor as a gold standard procedure, associated with kinesiotherapy, biofeedback, electrostimulation and health education, within a physicaltherapy treatment program. Therefore, even with a lack of recent scientific studies on the subject, it is possible to prove the effectiveness of pelvic physiotherapy and its positive impacts on the lives of elderly people with urinary incontinence.